


dizzy mess

by mixtapestar



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-23
Updated: 2011-06-23
Packaged: 2017-10-23 01:58:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/244978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mixtapestar/pseuds/mixtapestar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the glee club takes a trip to the beach shortly after school lets out for the summer, Finn finally starts to acknowledge his feelings for Sam. (Written before the season finale aired, and as such, not compliant with that episode.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	dizzy mess

_everybody's singing like they're crazy in love  
we made a dizzy mess of everything and it was enough_  
All Time Low - "The Beach"

*

In the aftermath of losing Nationals, Finn dreads going to Glee Club. Despite Mr. Schuester's attempts to get everyone motivated for next year, they're just too bummed to do anything more than sit around and talk. But then in the last couple weeks of school, Santana shocks them all by inviting them to stay at her parents' beach house for a couple of weeks in Marblehead.

"That's awfully nice of you," Sam says hesitantly.

"Yeah," Rachel pipes in, "since when do you do nice things for us?"

Finn can see the anger flare up in Santana's expression. "You better watch it, Bilbo, you're on thin ice as it is."

Finn speaks up before they have a chance to start another fight. "When would this trip happen? I've gotta house-sit for a couple weeks in June, and Kurt's got that Dalton trip for like a month."

Everyone chimes in after that, arguing over when to go. Some people can't do it any time in June, some can't do July, and Artie points out that he can't go at all unless Santana's parents built a wheelchair ramp to the house. Finn feels kinda bad about that, and he has a feeling the rest of them do too. Eventually, the bell rings, and they have to postpone the decision anyway.

On the last day of class, Santana makes the final decision to go in two weeks. This is met with protests from a few, namely Rachel, who will have to show up late, and Quinn, who won't be able to make it at all.

Finn doesn't mind the decision too much; he'll miss the first two days because he'll still be house-sitting, but there'll still be almost two weeks left to enjoy the beach. Kurt's got a tougher deal, though. The Warblers are going on a mountain retreat for a month, and despite Kurt's transfer to McKinley, he's still invited.

Santana's choice is final, though, so back at their house, Finn does his best to help Kurt decide.

"Dude, why don't you just flip a coin?" Finn says, watching Kurt pace the floor of their living room.

Kurt stares at him like he's crazy, and Finn kinda wishes he hadn't said anything. "Flip a coin? Are you serious? No matter what I choose, someone is going to be disappointed, and imagine how pissed off they'd be if it was decided on something so trivial."

Finn shrugs. "Yeah, but in that case, you could blame it on the coin. Since you want to go on both trips just as much, you let fate decide."

Kurt looks torn.

"I can flip it if you want," Finn offers.

"No, it's not--" Kurt sighs. "Look, don't tell Mercedes, but I really want to go with Blaine. This is the first chance we have to be, you know, away from home as a couple. And if I don't go with them at the beginning, I won't have a ride to join them in the middle."

Finn can see that Kurt's already decided. "I'm sure Mercedes would understand."

Kurt hums, biting at his nails as he continues pacing. "She's not too happy with Glee right now. She said there'd be no reason to go if I wasn't there."

"Isn't Sam going?"

Kurt shrugs. "Even if he is, they're not that close. I think they had fun at prom, but Mercedes isn't interested in being more than friends. I'm pretty sure Mercedes told him at Nationals, and there were no hard feelings."

Finn frowns. Why wouldn't Mercedes be interested?

"Anyway, I don't think Sam is going. Remember? He said he'd already signed up to work that first weekend. Unless he can get someone to cover those shifts last-minute, he won't have a ride."

"Wait, so he'd be going up on Monday?" Finn asks. At Kurt's nod, Finn pulls out his phone with the intention of calling Sam. "I can take him."

Kurt arches an eyebrow. "I thought you were going on Sunday."

Finn shrugs, pulling up Sam's name on his contact list. "So I'll wait a day. No reason he should miss out on the whole thing just because of one stupid work shift."

"Huh," Kurt says, looking impressed. Instead of pointing out how Kurt never gives him any credit, Finn ignores him and calls Sam.

"Ugh, thank god you called," Sam says immediately. "I'm out on deliveries and I am _so bored_."

"Hey to you too," Finn says, smiling. He's forgotten, lately, that he and Sam are cool now. There's no reason he shouldn't call him in the middle of the day just because.

Sam goes off on a work rant that Finn does his best to listen to, even though he doesn't know any of the people involved or really understand the context. In the meantime, Kurt takes his pacing upstairs, where Finn's sure he'll figure out a way to break it to Mercedes.

"Sorry," Sam finally says, sounding a little bit more relaxed now that he's gotten the rant out of his system. "I'm having kind of a bad day."

"No problem, dude. I'm hoping to make your day a little better."

Sam makes an interested noise, so Finn fills him in on the conversation he just had with Kurt. "We can leave on Monday," he concludes, "and still have over a week at the beach."

"Dude, that's awesome! I can totally pay you back for gas, if you don't mind waiting 'til, like, uh, the end of the month."

"Actually, instead of paying me back, I was thinking... since Santana's making each of us cook dinner one night and uh, the last time I tried to cook I set the smoke alarm off, maybe you could help me out on my night? Then we could totally call it even."

Sam laughs. "Deal."

******

The next two weeks drag on for Finn. The first week isn't so bad, but then Kurt goes off on his retreat and Finn is left completely alone in their house for a week.

He goes to visit Sam at work a couple times, mows his neighbor's lawn for some extra cash, but mostly he just sits around, bored. By the time his mom and Burt get back on Sunday morning, he's going stir crazy, so he decides to call Sam.

"What time does your shift end tonight?"

"Uh," Sam says, apparently thrown off by the question. "At 10, why?"

"Would you be at all opposed to leaving for the beach tonight?"

Sam is silent for a few seconds, and Finn's pretty sure he's not gonna be up for it. But then he sighs and says, "That'd be great, man. I gotta get out of here."

"Me too," Finn says with feeling. "I'm going crazy!"

Finn spends the rest of the day putting off packing, then frantically packing to make up for it, and before he knows it it's time for him to go pick up Sam.

The drive is awesome at first, with Sam picking songs off Finn's iPod for them to rock out to, but then exhaustion catches up with Sam. Finn looks over at a stoplight to see him slumped in his seat, completely knocked out, with his mouth hanging open. Sam just looks so... relaxed, even in the uncomfortable passenger's seat, that Finn wonders how much sleep he's getting at home. As he's thinking this over, the car behind them honks suddenly and Finn snaps his eyes back to the road, flooring it through the intersection. Luckily, it doesn't seem to disrupt Sam's sleep. He must be exhausted.

They pull into the driveway at the beach house at exactly 1 AM, approximately five minutes after Sam had woken up and started apologizing for falling asleep with Queen's Greatest Hits on repeat.

The first thing they discover when they go inside is that all the rooms have been taken except for one. Santana shows them the room with the double bed, smirking.

"You can share, or, if you're too _homophobic_ ," she stops and gives Finn a long look, which he meets with a look of defiance, "one of you can take the short, uncomfortable couch downstairs. But don't come crying to me when Puckerman's morning routine wakes you up."

"Whatever's fine with me," Sam says, glancing at Finn. "I don't mind sharing."

Finn shrugs. "Yeah, sounds good to me."

Santana looks surprised. "Cool, well. You share a bathroom with Puck and Mike Chang, the window is painted shut, so don't even bother trying to open it, and your room is closest to the stairs, so I expect you to answer the door if anyone shows up while I'm asleep."

They nod as she continues through her list of rules, and when she's finally done and back downstairs, Sam crashes face-down on the bed. When he speaks, his voice is muffled by the mattress. "Why did I think working an 8-hour shift and then coming here to deal with Santana was a good idea?"

Finn laughs. "Come on, dude. Let's say hi to everybody, then you can go to bed."

'Saying hi' turns into 'playing Catchphrase for 2 hours' and by the time they do make it back upstairs, even Finn is exhausted. He texts his mom to let her know they made it okay and then passes out without plugging his phone back in.

******

Finn wakes up the next morning feeling really, _really_ good. Like, that perfect balance of restful and turned on. He can tell by the faint light in his room that it's early, early enough that he has plenty of time to draw out that good feeling, so he stretches his legs a bit and just lets himself lay in that happy state. He goes to move his hand down, but then he gets confused by something in his way, and his eyes pop open when he realizes he's got his hand on Sam's waist. He pushes back from him, now fully awake and aware of where he is, trying to keep as quiet as possible. Sam doesn't move, so Finn says a quick prayer that he's still asleep and takes off for the bathroom. He stares at himself in the mirror and thinks, _mailman, mailman, mailman_ , but it doesn't help.

Eventually, he gives in. He runs water in the sink to cover up the noises while he brings himself off, clinging to the euphoria of the dream he can't remember. He doesn't think about it too much as he works himself up, concentrating on feeling good and keeping as quiet as possible.

When he goes back to bed, Sam is still completely out. Finn has never been more grateful for long pizza shifts. Still, even despite his happy afterglow feeling and the fact that he's only been asleep for a few hours, Finn can't fall back asleep. He keeps worrying about rolling over and winding up in the same situation as before, except this time it would probably wake Sam up. He lays there for minutes that turn into hours, shifting to his back and then again to his side. He hears Puck getting up for his morning run, and then the girls when they go downstairs to eat breakfast. At that point, he looks at the clock - 10:14 - and decides to give up. He stumbles downstairs to eat something and get started with his day.

Finn goes swimming for a while, then he and Mercedes get their asses handed to them in volleyball by Mike and Tina, and then when Finn troops inside to grab a sandwich, he discovers Sam sitting bleary eyed at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal.

"Dude, it's about time you joined us," Finn teases, punching him in the shoulder as he walks to the fridge.

"Say whatever you want, man. I needed it." He shovels a spoonful of cereal into his mouth and then talks around it. "Best night's sleep I've had in months."

Finn feels the same pang of guilt he feels every time he remembers Sam's situation. He knows what it's like to be poor. His mom had been unemployed for a couple months in his freshman year, and things were tough. He can't imagine what it'd be like if he'd had a brother and sister too. No wonder Sam is tired.

"Yeah, well eat fast. Mercedes has a volleyball re-match against the Asian fusion, and I know she'd prefer somebody that can actually play volleyball as her teammate."

"Awesome!" Sam says, smiling first at Finn, then Mercedes. "How'd you know I was good at volleyball?"

"Anybody's better than Finn," Mercedes says, shooting him a mock glare.

Finn holds his hands up in surrender. "I never claimed to be any good! You just said you needed a teammate."

Sam drops his bowl in the sink and claps Finn on the shoulder. "Just leave it to the pros, dude."

Finn laughs and wishes them luck. Once he's got his sandwich put together, he takes it outside so he can cheer Sam and Mercedes on from the deck.

When they come back in, Puck and Lauren are watching _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ and arguing over which is the better Indiana Jones movie. Sam jumps in immediately with his own argument while Finn and Mercedes just sit down to watch. About 15 minutes later, though, Finn feels like he's about to fall asleep, so he goes upstairs for a nap.

It feels amazing to just go upstairs and go back to sleep. No Glee songs to practice, no homework, no family drama. He can just crawl under the covers and go straight to sleep, so he does. He wakes up an indeterminate number of hours later - it's still daylight outside, at least - because his arm's fallen asleep. He blinks awake and realizes the reason for his numb arm: Sam is laying on top of it.

Not just laying, but practically cuddled up to Finn, and he just looks so... happy. It makes Finn smile this dopey grin before he realizes what he's doing and stops. He tries to pull his arm out from under Sam, but it's too numb to get the leverage.

"Hey. Hey, dude," Finn whispers, shaking Sam on the shoulder lightly. "You're kind of killing my arm right now. Can you sit up for a sec?"

Sam mumbles something unintelligible and grabs at Finn's shirt, ducking his head into Finn's shoulder. It makes something in Finn's chest clench for a second, but then he mumbles again, something that sounds like, "Fine," and rolls off of Finn's arm, facing the other direction. Finn endures the few minutes of pain as his arm gains feeling again, staring at Sam's back and trying not to move.

When the feeling in his arm becomes more of a weird tingling than an unforgiving scream-inducing pain, Finn grabs his phone and heads downstairs.

> F: i think i might have a thing for sam

He drums on the table as he waits for Kurt to reply. Everyone's watching _Temple of Doom_ now, but it's almost over. He starts to wonder if he should head outside to deal with this when his phone vibrates to indicate Kurt's reply.

> K: Very funny. Who is this? Does Finn know you've got his phone?  
> F: dude im serius

Finn blows out a frustrated breath as he hits send. He stares at the screen, waiting for the reply, but instead it starts ringing.

After a shocked few seconds -- he isn't sure he wants to _talk_ about this -- he answers it. "Hey, hang on. I should go outside... for a better signal," he makes up.

"Wow. It really is you," Kurt says, sounding genuinely surprised. "I thought for sure Santana had swiped your phone, or maybe Puck."

"No dude, I mean it," he says, sliding the door shut behind him.

"And you didn't lose a bet or anything? You know if I ask you have to tell me."

" _Dude_ ," Finn says, feeling more ridiculous about it as Kurt continues. He walks out on the beach and away from the house, hoping no one he knows is out here to hear him.

"Okay, fine, fine. Wow. This came out of nowhere."

"Not..." Finn clears his throat, then continues more quietly, "Not really."

"What?"

"I, uh. I've kinda been thinking about this for a while."

Noticing Sam hadn't been a big deal at first. Sam was his teammate, the new guy, and Finn wanted to look out for him. He didn't realize maybe he was looking a little too long, though, until he started remembering all these details at unexpected moments, like when he was alone in his room at night. And then _those_ memories would come up at inopportune moments, like when he was in class. It wasn't long before he was making excuses to himself about just appreciating the aesthetic, maybe he was just jealous of Sam's body, and dancing, and smile, and sense of humor. His hair, though... Finn could never justify his feelings about Sam's hair, so he'd always done his best to hate it. Now he could admit, though, that he wanted to slide his fingers through it, grip it, probably while they were making out. Finn shakes his head; this is not the time to be thinking about that.

"Okay, let me stop you right there," Kurt says, sounding confident. "You don't have a 'thing' for Sam."

"Um... I don't?"

There is some murmuring on the other side of the phone, and Finn thinks, _oh god, now all the Warblers know_ , but he quickly figures out it's just Blaine.

"Listen, Finn, you wouldn't be the first straight guy with a curiosity, but take it from me. I already know how this is going to end, and I think you do too. You're destined to end up with Rachel or someone like her, and there's no need to jerk Sam around in the process."

Finn makes a face, forgetting for a moment that Kurt can't see it. "Dude, things are over with me and Rachel."

"Yeah, for now, but how many times have we heard--" Kurt gets cut off, and Finn can hear Blaine's voice. And then, also muffled, Kurt's voice. And then back and forth in clipped tones - he's pretty sure they're arguing.

"Guys, it's not--" he says loudly, trying to break up their fight through the speaker of a cell phone. He wishes he hadn't said anything.

"Finn, hi," Blaine says, taking over for Kurt. "This is Blaine."

"Yeah, hi, Blaine. You guys aren't fighting because of me, are you?"

"No, no, of course not. Just a little disagreement. Listen, Kurt here still isn't a firm believer in bisexuality, but he doesn't speak for everyone. Your feelings for Sam can be just as real as your feelings for Rachel were."

Finn is quiet for a second, not sure what to say. "So you think I'm bi?"

Blaine hums in contemplation. "It wouldn't surprise me, but only you can say for sure." He hears Kurt's voice in the background again, and Blaine sighs and adds, "Kurt wants me to tell you not to do anything until you know for sure."

"Yeah." Finn kicks at the sand a bit, shifting the phone to his other ear. "Maybe you shouldn't tell Kurt this, but I'm pretty sure already. Especially," he glances back toward the house, "especially about Sam."

"That's great!"

Finn laughs. "Yeah, maybe, but it doesn't actually help my situation." He explains the whole sleeping scenario to Blaine, leaving out the part about needing some alone time that morning.

It's actually pretty easy to talk to Blaine, and Finn feels a lot better once he's done talking. He agrees to Blaine's advice of 'take it a day at a time, and don't worry about what happens when you're asleep' and tells him to thank Kurt for him.

Now that he's told somebody, Finn feels like he could take over the world. He helps Mercedes with dinner (okay, just by putting out dishes, but it still counts), he gets Mike Chang to teach him a dance move after dinner that everyone then wants to learn, and then he, Sam, and Mercedes totally own Catchphrase against Santana, Puck, and Lauren.

The next night goes by without event, and Finn wakes up to an empty bed. He breathes a sigh of relief that he didn't do anything weird this time, then rolls over and sleeps for another hour, the sound of the shower lulling him back to sleep.

When Finn finally drags his ass out of bed and downstairs, Santana is arguing with Puck about something.

"What is the deal with you and golf?" Puck asks, shooting an incredulous look at Finn. "We just wanna go play mini-golf."

"Dude, I love mini-golf. Can I come?"

Santana scowls at him, but Puck high fives him and says, "Of course, bro. I guess that makes us even for teams," he says, shooting Santana a look.

"Oh," Finn says, "I'm not very good--"

"It's okay, you're on the other team."

"Oh. Great."

Apparently this all started because Tina and Mike wanted a showdown in mini-golf, so Finn winds up on a team with Tina and Sam versus Mike, Puck, and Lauren.

They're there to play, but the trash talk is the best part of it all. Lauren is really good at it, but Finn's team gives back just as strong.

Finn really does suck, though. Before long, they vote to start using the '6 is the highest score you can get on one hole' rule, just so Finn doesn't ruin his team's chances too much.

"Sorry, guys," Finn says when his 5th stroke once again fails to reach the hole. "Why don't you just go ahead and put down 6 so we can move on?"

"Hang on," Sam says, scrutinizing Finn. "I've got an idea."

He takes off with Finn's club, leaving Finn staring after him in confusion. "Uh."

When he gets back, he hands Finn a taller golf club. "This should help."

"I thought I grabbed the tallest one they had," Finn says, posing with it.

"Special request only," Sam explains. "My dad always asks for it when we take my brother and sister. He says it helps his back, but I think it's just 'cause it improves his game. We Evans boys don't like to lose."

They let the family behind them play through while Tina shows both Sam and Finn how to improve their stance. Sam picks it up right away, but Finn needs a little more help getting it right. Finally, Sam stops trying to explain and crouches down, putting his hand on the back of Finn's leg. "Turn this foot toward me," he says, nodding when Finn does. "Okay, now make the other one parallel."

"Huh?"

"Lined up, like this," he says, using his hands as a visual.

"Perfect!" Tina says, clapping her hands. "Now when you putt, just pretend there's a line connecting the ends of your feet, and follow that line."

Finn shoots Sam a confused look. Sam laughs, standing up and getting behind Finn. "Like this," he says, wrapping his arms around Finn and guiding the club. Finn has a moment of distraction because Sam is all up in his space, but then he sees what they mean - the club is following the same line.

"Oh, awesome!"

It doesn't ultimately help his game very much, but 5's are still better than 6's-representing-8's, and then they get to the 16th hole.

"Oh, I hate these!" Tina exclaims. "There's no skill involved at all. It's just dumb luck."

Sam goes down the hill to see where the three holes at the top come out. "Yeah, I have no idea which one goes where. I think we're just gonna have to wing it."

"I'll go first," Finn volunteers. "Might as well be the guinea pig."

Sam pats him on the back in appreciation, and Tina commends him on 'taking one for the team'. Once the ball bounces out of the middle hole - the one he was aiming for - and into the left one, they all rush down the hill to see what happens. Finn watches in amazement as the ball rolls neatly out of the middle exit door thing and right into the hole.

Finn just stares for a second, looking at Tina and Sam to figure out if that really just happened. "Wait--"

Sam laughs incredulously and Tina starts doing a victory dance. "Hole in one, dude!" Sam exclaims, pulling him into a celebratory hug before running back up to take his shot. Finn waits with Tina as Sam aims for and gets the same shot up top - but the ball stops just short of the hole at the bottom. Same thing with Tina, but their team total for that hole is 5, still less than Finn's typical score.

They still lose as a team, but Tina beats Mike by 1 point, with Sam only a couple strokes higher than Mike. Finn's just glad he managed to get a couple good scores.

When they get back, the girls are laying out on the beach, and everyone wants to go swimming. Finn's not in the mood, though. He opts for staying in and playing Zelda on his DS for most of the afternoon.

"Dude, you missed it," Sam says when he comes inside. Finn takes in the sight of him dripping wet and slightly tan, filing the image away for later, but quickly drags his eyes up to Sam's.

"What'd I miss?"

"The dudes next door are _crazy_. They're like, I dunno, famous hunters or something. They've got all this random shit in their house. They were telling us all these stories about how their house was haunted."

"Aw man," Finn says, wishing he could've seen.

"Yeah, but don't worry, you'll still get to go over. Apparently the one guy is Santana's dad's half-brother. When they found out we were here another week, they invited us over for dinner one night."

"Awesome!"

"Yeah!" Sam says, smiling wide. Finn can't help staring at that smile, but then Sam drops down next to him, leaning close to look at the DS. "Whatcha playin'?"

"Zelda," Finn says, then shivers when water drips onto him from Sam's hair. Sam smells very much like a dude who was just out swimming, a smell that Finn would've never guessed would make him want to jump anybody's bones, and yet that's all he can think about right now.

Sam turns to look at him, and Finn is suddenly sure he can tell what Finn's thinking. Panicking, he leans away. "Dude, you're dripping all over me," he says, exaggerating his movements as he wipes the drops off his arm.

"Oh, sorry man. Didn't realize," Sam says, his smile showing that he's probably not onto Finn after all. He gets up and runs the towel over his hair, his voice muffled from underneath it. "That version of Zelda's pretty good. I beat it in about a month."

Finn has trouble following the conversation when a shirtless Sam is toweling off in front of him, but when Sam asks about Twilight Princess, he manages to figure out the question. "Nah, I haven't played it. We have a Wii at home, but it's Kurt's."

"Aw man, you gotta play it. It's the best one out. I can probably borrow a copy from my buddy Joe back home, if you want."

"Yeah," Finn says on autopilot.

Sam glances up at him, a teasing smile on his face. "If you're not interested, you can just say so."

Finn feels like a deer in headlights for a second, thinking Sam's called him out, but then he realizes Sam is talking about the video game. "No, man, that'd be awesome. Sorry, just uh... zoned out, I guess."

He looks back down at his game and tells himself not to look back up, but then Sam makes a noise. "You know what, I still feel like I'm covered in sand. I think I'm gonna go shower before dinner."

"Cool," Finn says, holding up his hand for a fistbump as Sam passes by. He tries to focus on his game, but the image of Sam in the shower kind of overpowers everything else.

Frustrated, he tosses the game aside and goes to find something else to do.

He winds up having an awesome time learning a new card game with Mercedes until dinner. Then, by the time they get through an action movie, an animated movie and a chick flick (so as to appeal to everyone), Finn is exhausted again. It seems darker than usual outside when he crawls into bed.

******

Finn wakes up suddenly to a _huge_ crack of thunder, and when he opens his eyes he can still see the flash of lightning that caused it. It's then that he realizes he's been hearing thunder for the past couple hours in his sleep, and then immediately after, he realizes that he's wrapped around Sam again. Only this time, Sam is facing him, and he's also awake.

"Hi," Sam says. His arm is just chillin' on Finn's hip, which seems fair enough, because Finn's arm is all the way around Sam.

Finn's first instinct is to jump back, to start making excuses, but Sam had woken up first. If he hasn't moved yet, then Finn shouldn't have to. Still, Finn is about a second away from a frantic, 'I can explain!' when Sam speaks up.

"Sorry, I kinda have a tendency to cuddle in my sleep." He blinks back at Finn. "Does it bother you?"

Finn's heartbeat picks up, and he's suddenly aware of Sam's legs kind of tangled up with his. He tries to stay as still as possible to keep Sam from noticing either of these things, saying a silent prayer of thanks that he's not having any sort of physical reaction right now.

"I can sleep on the floor," Sam offers, shifting as if he's gonna move away, and Finn makes a noise of protest, grabbing his arm.

"No!" he says hurriedly, feeling his face heat up as Sam looks back at him. He's grateful for the dark room. "I mean, it's fine. I kinda... do that too."

Sam smiles, moving his hand from Finn's waist so he can adjust his pillow. "Can't help what you do in your sleep, right?"

"Exactly," Finn says, pretty sure Sam will assume the weirdness of his voice is just from being tired.

The thunder booms outside, much further away now. Finn wonders if maybe he should go check on the girls, make sure they're alright. "You think anyone else is awake?"

Sam yawns hugely, turning his face in to his pillow. He's still half-yawning when he says, "I'm sure no one slept through that lightning strike." His hand finds its way to Finn's side again, resting comfortably like it belongs there. "I'm exhausted, though."

Finn swallows. "Yeah, me too. I think the storm's moved away now."

Sam nods absently, and he seems to already be half-asleep, still wrapped around Finn. Okay, maybe checking on the girls can wait.

******

The next day, Finn is determined to distance himself from Sam so that things aren't weird. He gets Tina, Mike and Mercedes to help him improve his volleyball game, he goes for a run with Puck, and he even has a long conversation with Brittany about turtles. And yet he still winds up smushed up next to Sam during the Pirates of the Caribbean marathon they have later that day.

It's not an unpleasant situation by any means, but Finn misses the first half hour of the first movie because he's too distracted. But then Sam starts quoting Jack Sparrow under his breath, and Finn is still distracted, but in a way that makes him laugh 'til his side hurts. He tries to keep quiet, since everyone's trying to watch, but that somehow makes it even funnier. And to make it worse, Sam just turns it up a notch when he realizes he's the reason for Finn's laughter.

Sam talks in a Jack Sparrow accent all throughout dinner. Everyone thinks it's funny (except Santana, who just rolls her eyes), but Finn is the only one who finds it hilarious. The best part is when Kurt calls Mercedes during dinner, and Sam snatches the phone first. He doesn't give Mercedes the phone back until Kurt calls him 'Captain'.

They round out the night the same as the others - with movies and card games. Finn learns a new one called 'Nertz', and he even starts to get good at it, but only when either Sam or Mercedes is his partner.

By the time Finn and Mercedes finally win a neverending game with Puck and Tina, Sam has long been gone to bed. So when Finn gets to their room, Sam's already curled up on his side, facing away from the door.

Finn stays as quiet as he can as he gets under the covers, then in a voice barely a whisper, he says, "Sam?"

He stares at the long line of Sam's back, but he doesn't move a muscle. Sure that Sam's asleep, Finn shifts around to his side and carefully drapes his arm over Sam's side. He takes his time, making sure it would seem natural, because as Sam had said, you can't help what you do in your sleep. When he's satisfied, he tilts his forehead to rest on the back of Sam's shoulder. It doesn't take him long to fall asleep.

******

The next day, Santana pulls him out of his volleyball game with a clear purpose in mind. Finn doesn't know why, but he's already scared.

Finn takes a moment to appreciate her fiery red bikini as they go a ways down the beach. Once she seems satisfied, they stop, and she just glares at him.

"What'd I do?" Finn asks, squirming under her gaze.

"Look, you've been ogling Sam more than you've been ogling me, okay? And _everyone's_ been ogling me."

"You do look good," Finn says. His eyes kind of can't move away from her chest.

"I know, right? I'm smokin'. But eyes up here, Lurch, you're barking up the wrong tree. _Hey_." Her hand pushes his chin up, forcing him to look her in the eye. "I'm saying, you should back off of Sam."

Finn rolls his eyes. If anyone else had noticed, he might be worried, but Santana makes up relationships more than she actually observes them. "What business is it of yours, anyway?"

"Having been around a time or two, I know Sam is one of the good guys. And you have a history of only wanting what you can't have."

"That's not true," Finn says, pulling a face, but then Santana arches an eyebrow and sends him a glare that shuts him up instantly.

"However," she says coolly, "given that, I know that making it forbidden will only make you want it more, so I'm taking the opposite approach." Finn shoots her a confused look, so she continues, "I'm going to tell him you're interested. If history repeats himself, as I'm sure it will, you will then become completely  _un_ interested."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"That's what I've always thought, but you keep doing it," she says with a shrug, already moving off in Sam's direction.

"No, wait, Santana," Finn says, grabbing her hand. "Please." He glances over at Sam, then quickly away when he sees him looking back. Damn Santana and her observant ways. Quietly, he tells her, "Don't tell him."

When he looks back at Sam, he's gone back to his volleyball game.  Finn watches as he spikes the ball and then high-fives Mike, and he kind of aches with how much he wants him.

"Shit," Santana says with feeling, bringing Finn back into the moment. "You really do have the hots for him."

"Look, what's in gonna take? I've only got like 50 bucks for the next week, so--"

"You can keep your money," Santana says, cutting him off. She looks him over for a moment. "Fine. I guess I'll let this go for now. But you owe me. And you better appreciate those fluffy lips of his, and know that if you break his heart, I _will_ make it so you can't sit down for a month."

"Noted," Finn says. Looking at Sam, he's not too worried about it happening that way.

******

Finn is sitting on the couch in the living room with Mercedes, flipping through channels, when Sam pops his head out from the stairs and says, "Hey, is it cool if I borrow your DS?"

His hair is matted to his face, meaning he just got out of the shower, and Finn has to fight himself not to think about that too much. Its his own fault for focusing so hard on the image this morning during his own shower. "Sure, go ahead," Finn says, then immediately regrets it. His DS sounds a lot more entertaining then watching some old sitcom re-run in the middle of the day.

"You see anything interesting?" he asks Mercedes, who just sighs and throws her head back in response. Finn laughs. "I'll take that as a no."

"I'm just so _bored_ ," Mercedes says. Finn cycles back around to the low numbers and then gives up, stopping on the TV Guide in the hopes that something interesting will show up. With another heavy sigh, Mercedes pushes up off the couch and heads for the stairs.

"You're leaving me?" Finn asks her with a frown.

"Whoa, sorry," Sam says, rounding the corner and nearly barreling into Mercedes. He sees Finn's expression and mimics it. "Why the sad face?"

"Mercedes is abandoning me to bad daytime television," Finn says, exaggerating the pout. Sam does the same, and they both stare at Mercedes.

Mercedes laughs. "You guys are a trip. But I'm sure you'll think of something. I'm gonna take advantage of the freedom I call summer to go take a nap."

Sam nods. "Can't argue with that."

"Dude," Finn says, faking anger. "You're taking her side?"

"Don't worry about it, bro. I'll keep you company," Sam says, taking Mercedes' former spot on the couch, except he sits sideways with his feet over the armrest, leaning on Finn to prop himself up.

"That's even worse!" Finn says, looking back to Mercedes and mouthing, 'Help me!'

With another laugh, she waves to Finn like she doesn't see him and says, "Have fun you two."

Once she's gone, Finn expects Sam to move, but he just settles in, using Finn like an armrest while he plays Finn's DS. Finn notices he's playing Super Mario World, one of Finn's favorites.

It's actually really comfortable, Sam leaning on him like this, and Finn thinks he could get used to this. He finds an old Scrubs re-run on Comedy Central and leaves that on, glancing over occasionally to see how Sam's fairing in the game.

The episode ends, and Finn is bored again. He tells Sam this, but he's mostly ignored in favor of Mario. "I feel so unloved."

Lauren sticks her head in just then. "Hey guys. We're gonna walk down the beach a ways and see if we can climb the water tower. Wanna come?"

"Nah," Sam says immediately. "Thanks anyway. I'm kicking ass at this right now."

He hasn't even looked up from the game. Finn laughs and looks back at Lauren. "Thanks anyway."

Lauren shrugs. "Suit yourself," she says, then slides the door shut.

"You should've gone," Sam tells him. "I wouldn't have minded."

Finn doesn't answer right away. He'd barely even thought about it. Climb a really tall tower or stay here with Sam leaning on him. It'd been a no-brainer.

Sam takes his silence the wrong way. "Seriously, go. I'm sure they haven't gone far yet."

"I'm kinda afraid of heights," Finn says, then immediately regrets it. He's never told anyone that before.

He hopes for a second that maybe Sam didn't hear him - he's awfully close to beating that level, after all - but no such luck. "Seriously?" he says, eyes still on the game. "But you're like, really tall. I wouldn't think tall guys would have that problem as much."

"Further to fall," Finn jokes, laughing awkwardly.

Sam makes a triumphant noise as he finishes out the level, then closes the DS. He twists around so that he's sitting normally on the couch, his body angled so he can see Finn. "This is why you bailed on the Empire State Building trip, isn't it? You weren't actually sick."

Finn stares straight ahead at the TV screen. "I dunno, I didn't feel too good when I thought about it. It wasn't a lie."

He can feel Sam staring at him, and he feels really uncomfortable. "Can we talk about something else?"

"I'm afraid of needles," Sam says as soon as Finn is done talking.

Finn glances over at him, surprised.

"Seriously," Sam says with a self-deprecating smile. "I had to get a physical last summer before transferring to McKinley. I almost passed out when they said they needed to give me a shot."

"Everybody hates shots, though," Finn says, shifting so he can face Sam better. "You don't have to stay behind at Cedar Point when all your friends wanna go on the tall roller coaster."

"Yeah, but at least you have a choice. Nobody's making you climb a mountain, but usually when doctors wanna poke you, they're gonna poke you." Sam shivers, gripping his arm. He stays like that for a second, eyes squeezed shut.

"Dude, come back to me," Finn says, reaching for Sam's arm. "Think happy thoughts."

Sam's eyes slide open and he looks at Finn for a second before a smile breaks out on his face. Jesus, Finn is so far gone on this guy. "Sorry," Sam says.

"You good now?" Finn asks, not letting go of Sam's arm.

"Yeah," he says, smile going softer. Finn just kind of looks at him for a second, enjoying the moment. But then Sam cuts his eyes away and moves his arm, so Finn lets go. "Hey, I think Mike Chang's got his Wii in his room. Wanna hook it up so I can school you at MarioKart?"

"Yeah!" Finn says enthusiastically, before realizing the full question. "Hang on, let's just see who schools who."

"You cheat," Finn says an hour later, when Sam beats him out yet again. He pushes at Sam's shoulder to show his annoyance.

"Sorry, dude," Sam says with a laugh. "I've had a lot of practice." He licks his lips, and Finn's eyes automatically follow the movement.

He stops staring immediately when he realizes what he's doing. "Rematch," he demands, looking back at the TV.

Mercedes comes downstairs during their rematch, claiming she had the best nap ever.

"Hey, Mercedes, help me stop this guy from cheating," Finn says, shoving his shoulder into Sam's as he turns the wheel. Sam just laughs and makes the turn like a pro.

"It looks like you're the one who's cheating, Finn," Mercedes muses.

" _Thank_ you," Sam says, nudging Finn's shoulder.

"Where'd everybody go?" Mercedes asks.

"Down to the water tower," Sam answers. He starts to tell her about their plan to climb it, and Finn uses his moment of distraction to grab at his wheel and turn it sharp. "Dammit, Finn!"

Finn laughs and blasts past him, but Sam's right there even with him in a second, shooting a shell that makes Bowser spin out. "Nooo, cheat!" He flails blindly for Sam's controller again, keeping his eyes on the screen, and Sam reaches out to block him, both of them laughing hard.

Mercedes makes a noise that sounds like a tired laugh. "You guys are worse than Kurt and Blaine."

Sam drives off a cliff.

Finn has a feeling that's not a good sign, but he focuses on pressing his advantage in the race. When he beats Sam out by two places, it feels like a hollow victory. But he doesn't want things to be weird, so he still gloats.

When they finish out the round, Mercedes calls Finn over to the kitchen area. She hands him a jar to open, and then in a whisper, asks, "Was I out of line?"

Finn glances back at Sam, who is completely focused on the screen. Doing a trial run, as if he needs the practice. "Nah," Finn says, making a face. "I think it just caught him off-guard."

Mercedes looks confused as she takes the jar back from him. "No, I meant with you."

"Oh!" Finn says, way louder than intended. Another quick look at Sam shows that he's still not looking. Quietly, he continues, "I mean, oh. No, it didn't bother me."

"You kind of flipped out. Sam couldn't see your face, but I could."

"Yeah, well." Finn bites at his lip. Dammit, everyone's gonna know before they get back to Lima. "He drove off a cliff at the thought of us together."

Mercedes' eyes go wider than Finn's ever seen them. But right at that moment, Finn hears the sound of Sam crossing the finish line.

"Don't tell him, please," Finn says, and Mercedes has just enough time to nod before Sam stands up and asks, "What are you guys doin'?"

"Finn's... helping me with dinner!" Mercedes says, improvising. Her eyes still look wide to Finn, but maybe that's just him.

"Didn't you already cook on Mon--"

"I volunteered for two nights," she insists, voice stern. Sam seems to buy it, because he offers to help too. In the end, they do actually wind up making dinner. Finn learns how to make scrambled eggs, Sam almost burns the bacon, and Mercedes gets praised for making the best dinner of all - breakfast. It's the best night Finn has so far.

******

After staying up way too late playing Catchphrase with Mike and Tina - Finn maybe didn't want to head upstairs until Sam did - Sam and Finn make their way up to bed.

Finn feels awkward, though, once they're both under the covers, facing opposite directions. He wonders if it would be weird to say, "Goodnight."

"It's weird not having to do any homework," Sam says out of nowhere. Finn almost breathes a sigh of relief that he's broken the silence.

"Yeah, and no singing practice," he agrees.

Sam chuckles. "Maybe, but Rachel gets here tomorrow, and I'm sure she'll have us singing again within the first hour." His voice goes into a falsetto. "Guys, next year's regionals is only 165 days away! We need to be ready!"

Finn laughs, rolling over onto his back. "Her voice isn't that high."

"It can be," Sam says, rolling over too. Finn stares at the ceiling and wonders if Sam is staring at the same weird shadow coming from the window.

After a few seconds of silence, Sam says, "Hey Finn?"

"Yeah?"

"Let me know if I'm being too clingy, okay? I know it bothers some people. I... I've scared people off before. The last thing I want to do is screw up our friendship."

Finn's heart feels like it's in his throat for a second, but he swallows thickly and does his best to answer. "Dude, don't even worry about it," he says, sounding more reassuring than he feels. If Sam thinks his own actions could screw up their friendship, then Finn had better reel in his own.

They talk about video games for a few minutes, but Finn just wants to go to sleep. He does say goodnight, and it's not weird, but he doesn't feel right as he rolls over, facing away from Sam. Was that Sam's way of telling him to back off? Why else would he bring up their friendship?

The questions keep running through his head in an endless loop, and he can't sleep at all. He tries to pretend, though, when he hears Sam sit up and get something off the floor. He clicks at it a couple times - Finn realizes after a second it's his pay-as-you-go phone - and then sighs, dropping it back on the floor.

It's completely quiet for a minute or so, and then suddenly Sam is rolling over and his arm is sliding around Finn's waist. He feels Sam adjusting his pillow behind him and tries his best to fake sleep. Sam sighs again, a little lighter this time, and Finn can feel his breath on his neck. More confused than ever and a little turned on, Finn starts counting sheep. By the time he gets in the double digits, he's out.

******

Finn wakes up when it is very bright out to someone banging on the front door. He looks at the clock, and it's an uncalled for 6:30 AM. Finn remembers Santana's rule and curses the fact that he has to go answer it. Except when he tries to move, Sam's arms tighten around him and he mumbles something about not leaving, and then actually says Finn's name. Finn sucks in a breath and then immediately scrunches his eyes shut, thinking of the mailman as hard as he can. Finally, after running it through his head a dozen times or so, he manages to extricate himself, keeping his eyes shut the whole time. After he pulls on jeans, he takes another look back at Sam, who has one arm tossed over Finn's side of the bed, and whose mouth is hanging open invitingly on his pillow. "Fuck," Finn says under his breath, then grabs his phone and heads out into the hall.

It's Rachel on the other side of the door, and he really shouldn't be surprised. She is bright and perky as the sun, despite the fact that she had to have woken up by like 4 to get here this early. She talks at him nonstop for a couple of minutes as he helps her carry her things in, Finn only grunting here and there to show he's listening.

"Listen, I've only had like 3 hours of sleep, so I'm goin' back to bed," he says groggily once all her stuff is loaded in.

"Oh," Rachel says, looking disappointed.

"I'll see you in the afternoon," he says, trying to smile, but not waiting for a response.

When he gets back to the bedroom, Sam is facing the other way, and maybe it's just 'cause he's tired, but he immediately wraps himself around Sam and falls right back to sleep.

******

Later, when Finn wakes up fully and gives the situation with Sam some thought, he's more confused than ever. Sam had said he wanted to be friends, but his actions indicate otherwise, and it only gets worse as the day goes on.

First, Sam starts a dunking fight with Finn while they're swimming. The act itself isn't too strange, as Finn's been messing around with his friends for years by dunking them in the pool. But Sam's hands wind up on more than just his shoulders in trying to dunk him, and while Finn doesn't object, it's still pretty confusing.

It happens again when Sam tackles him completely unnecessarily during ultimate frisbee. It's an obvious foul, but Sam looks unrepentant even when his teammates grumble at him.

"You do realize Ultimate's not a tackle sport, right?" Finn says, wiping the sand off his arms. He should probably be angrier - he would be if it'd been anyone else - but Sam is warm and shirtless, and it's kind of distracting Finn from everything else.

He gives up on trying to figure it out for himself when Santana comes around with her camera. Sam can say whatever he wants about being friends, but the way he leans into Finn for that picture says exactly the opposite.

For once, Finn actually feels like he should talk about his feelings, so he does the only thing that makes sense.

"Hello?" Kurt says, picking up on the second ring.

"Good, I'm glad you picked up. Is Blaine there? I need to ask him something."

"Nice talking to you too," Kurt mumbles, but he hands the phone over to Blaine.

"Hey, Finn. What's up?" Blaine says. He sounds just as friendly as ever, and before Finn even realizes what he's doing, he's spilling his guts about the whole thing. Every look, the cuddling, everything that's been replaying in Finn's mind each day when he's alone in the shower, though he leaves out that detail.

"Wow," Blaine says when Finn stops for breath. "It sounds like he really likes you."

Finn isn't so sure. "I think he's just like that. He told me last night that he's clingy, and that I should tell him if it's too much, and then he'll stop."

Blaine chuckles, murmuring, "Classic."

"Huh?"

"That's exactly what you tell a guy you think is straight when you want to go out with him. Now that he's given you an out, Sam is free to flirt as much as he wants, because it's on you to tell him to stop. If you got weird about it, he could just claim he didn't know it bothered you, and that he asked you to tell him."

"But I don't want him to stop."

"Well, exactly. It's on you now. He's not gonna make the first move, here, even if he starts to believe you really are interested. It sounds like he's been burnt before, so you're gonna have to man up and be the first one to admit your feelings."

"Uh," Finn says, staring down the beach to where he can faintly see the gang. "Do I have to?"

Blaine laughs, and his voice is soft when he answers. "You don't have to do anything, Finn. But if you really care about Sam, if you want to be with him, you can't just sit around and wait for it to happen. I was lucky that your brother was patient with me. If he hadn't been, I don't know where I'd be right now."

Finn makes a face. "Dude, it's cool that you're into Kurt, but you can leave out all the sappy details."

Blaine chuckles. "Sorry."

"I should go. I promised Rachel I'd teach her how to play Nertz."

"Just give it some thought. If you ask me, he's into you, and he wants you to make the next move. So you either go get him or you move on."

"Yeah," Finn says, even though the thought of starting that conversation is more intimidating than anything. "Thanks, Blaine."

"Anytime, Finn."

******

"Hey," Finn murmurs, reaching out under the table to rest his hand on Sam's leg. "Let me know if you get the six of hearts."

"You got it, man," Sam says, flipping cards like a pro. Like magic, the six of hearts shows up right then. "Oh, you actually got it. You ready?"

Finn nods, and as soon as Sam lays the card down, Finn is there with the seven, Rachel reaching out with her own card half a second too late. Finn and Sam make a triumphant noise while Rachel complains loudly, and it's not long before Finn puts down his last card and yells, "Nertz!"

Rachel continues complaining to Puck, her ever-patient partner in the game, about how Sam and Finn must be cheating. Finn ignores her. He'd tried to be partners with her earlier to teach her the game, but that had more or less ended in a screaming match. Rachel was just way too controlling. She'd been too focused on Finn's cards to actually do her part.

Finn is busy shuffling for the next round when his phone goes off in his pocket. Sam takes over right away as Finn reads Kurt's name on the caller ID and answers, "Hey Kurt."

"You and I need to have words, Finn Hudson."

Finn doesn't really like the sound of that. "Uh, dude, I can't really talk right now. Sam and I are busy dominating everyone in Nertz."

Kurt's response of, "What the hell is Nertz?" is mostly drowned out by the protests of Puck, Rachel, and Tina that they're gonna make a comeback. Mike Chang stays silent, simply nodding at Tina in agreement.

"Is that Kurt? Let me talk to him," Mercedes says, coming over. Finn hands the phone off to her right away, eager to finish this game. They have a pretty commanding lead, and Finn wants to prove that he can actually play well when he doesn't have a bossy partner.

Sam and Finn do their complicated and awesome handshake in celebration when they win, and then Finn goes to get his phone back from Mercedes.

"You should call him back," Mercedes says, giving Finn a significant look.

Finn stares at his feet. "Yeah, okay." He gets the impression this is going to be one of those 'feelings' speeches he hates so much. He hopes Kurt isn't going to tell him again that what he feels for Sam isn't real. "I'll just... go outside. Better signal."

"Can I come?" Sam asks, standing just behind Finn with his hands in his pockets. "I wanna say hey to Kurt."

Finn stares at him for a second, caught completely off-guard, but he can't come up with a good excuse. It's not like he can say, 'You can't come because we'll be talking about you.' He finally forces a smile and says, "Sure."

Kurt answers the phone with, "I can't believe you talked to Blaine for advice on your _male crush_ instead of me."

"Heeey, Kurt," Finn says, feeling awkward. "Sam is here too; he wants to say hi."

Kurt makes an unhappy noise. "Staying around the group is not going to stop you from having this conversation. Go outside like you did last time."

"Yeah, we're outside; there's a better signal out here. Um, here, I'll let you speak to him." Finn hands the phone over, hoping Kurt will shut up long enough for Sam to say hello. His head hurts from trying to keep track of what Sam might hear.

"Hey, Kurt! How's the mountain?" Sam says, smiling into the phone. They keep walking down the beach, and Finn tries to piece together their conversation from Sam's half. Kurt talks a lot about Blaine while Sam listens, and Sam tells Kurt stories about their beach antics, and then suddenly Finn can tell from Sam's change in tone that they're talking about him. He listens hard, but he can't hear what Kurt is saying.

Realizing how far they've gone down the beach, Finn stops and sits on a nearby bench. Sam sits next to him, still chatting away, and Finn strains his ears to hear what Kurt's saying on the other side. He doesn't have any luck, though.

Whatever it is, Sam laughs at it, leaning over to bump his shoulder against Finn's as he says, "Yeah, he's good at that."

Finn goes to smile back before he recognizes the teasing look in Sam's eyes. "Hang on, what am I good at?"

Sam ignores him, face going serious as he listens to Kurt. "Nah, it's cool. We'll hang out this summer, yeah?"

"Hey, what am I good at?" Finn asks again, poking Sam in the side. Sam jumps suddenly, batting his hand away and giggling. Finn smiles wide and does it again.

"Oh my god, Kurt, he's attacking me," Sam says, giggling some more and trying to get away. "Fuck, stop it, I'm ticklish! Here, take the phone! Bye, Kurt!"

"What am I good at?" Finn says again, taking the phone. He stops bothering Sam, but he files it away for future reference.

"Not being subtle, apparently!" Kurt says, surprise evident in his voice.  "Where did that come from? I don't think I've witnessed such obvious flirting since Nick changed around our supper schedules just so he could be on an 'accidental' date with Jeff!"

"Shut up," Finn says, feeling his face heat up.

Kurt takes pity on him. "You're good at avoiding serious discussion, that's what we were talking about."

"I talk about stuff!" Finn protests, looking at Sam.

"I was just teasin', dude," Sam says, punching him on the shoulder. He smiles as he says it, but he still sounds sad.

"You're doing it now," Kurt points out.

"I am not," he says, feeling childish. Sam seems convinced that Finn is done tickling him, because he settles in close to Finn on the bench. Finn swallows and tries to focus on the phone. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"You know the answer to that, and if I'm not mistaken, he's sitting right next to you at the moment."

"Yeah. Sorry."

"It's okay. I actually just wanted to apologize. For not believing you, about Sam."

"Oh."

"When you called and asked to talk to Blaine about this, I realized that I'd messed up. I shouldn't have tried to talk you out of it; I should've been supportive."

As Kurt talks, Sam shifts and rests his head on Finn's shoulder, the sunlight almost completely gone now. "It's not a big deal," Finn tells Kurt, trying to remain as still as possible.

"No, it actually is. Coming out is huge, and the last thing you need to hear from your brother is that your sexuality isn't valid. Maybe it doesn't matter as much to you, but it does to me, and if you could just accept my apology then we can both move on."

"Okay. Sure," Finn says. He really wishes he didn't have to have this conversation with Sam on his shoulder. He's glad to know, though, that you apparently can't hear anything from his phone unless it's against your ear.

"Thank you," Kurt says, sounding sincere.

"So, how is it hanging out with the Warblers again?"

That sets Kurt off again, talking as much as he must have been talking to Sam, and Finn starts to get comfortable on the bench. He hears all about this talk that Kurt's going to see with Blaine, given by some singer guy Finn's never heard of. The conversation goes on for a while, and when Finn's in the middle of telling his own story about ultimate frisbee, Sam twitches, and Finn realizes with a smile that he's fallen asleep.

"What?" Kurt says, breaking the silence and making Finn realize he stopped mid-sentence.

"Nothing, sorry," Finn says quietly. "I think my body makes Sam fall asleep." Kurt splutters out a laugh, and Finn realizes how weird that sounded. "I mean--"

"No, don't explain, I get it. It's dark out there, right?"

"Yeah," Finn says, looking down the beach. "The sun was still up when we came out here, but it's almost completely dark now."

"So you're telling me that the two of you just watched the sunset together. On the beach."

"Yeah, I guess so." They both go quiet for a minute, mainly because Finn can't remember where he was going with his frisbee story.

"I'm really glad it was Sam," Kurt finally says, sounding serious.

"Huh?"

"If you were gonna fall for a guy, I'm glad it was Sam." Finn turns his head to look at Sam, sprawled out on the bench. Finn is about two seconds from saying something stupid and sentimental, but then Kurt continues, "Because if it was Blaine, I'd have to kill you."

Finn hears a loud laugh on the other end of the phone, and he realizes Blaine is there.

"Your boyfriend's cool," Finn says.

"Finn says you're cool, though it should be noted that he's the only one who feels this way," Kurt tells Blaine, and Finn hears the answering laughter. "Blaine thinks you're cool too, but you'd be cooler if you made a move."

"I'll keep that in mind," Finn says around a huge yawn.

Kurt laughs. "Maybe you oughta go back inside before you both fall asleep on the beach. I hereby free you of your brotherly calling duties. But text me if anything happens!"

"You got it, man. Have fun at the talk."

Finn isn't sure what it was that triggered it, but as soon as he ends the call, Sam starts waking up.

"Whoa, sorry, man. This beach is making me about twenty times lazier than usual."

Finn thinks about kissing him right there. Blaine had emphasized confessions and discussions, but Finn thinks it'd be a lot easier to just... _do_ something. It's dark, so no one will see them, and Kurt and Blaine both seem pretty sure Sam would be into it. But then he thinks about how long they've been gone, and all the looks they'll get when they get back, and he stops himself. "You wanna head back?"

When they get back, the lights are off and everyone's watching a movie. Finn is standing just inside the door, trying to figure out which movie it is, when Sam flips out. He sticks his fingers in his ears and starts humming loudly to himself, stumbling in the dark toward the stairs.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Finn asks, and is immediately shushed by someone. He ignores them and follows after Sam.

"What just happened?" Finn asks, shutting the door behind himself and dropping onto the bed.

"I don't watch movies I haven't seen from the middle. It's against my religion."

Finn watches as Sam throws some clothes around, apparently looking for something. "What kind of religion--"

"That was a joke, Finn. I just don't like doing it. It ruins the movie."

"Oh."

"You can go watch if you want. I'm cool up here. Mind if I borrow your DS again?" he asks, holding it up once he finds it in his pocket from yesterday.

"Nah, go ahead. I think I'm just gonna get on the internet for a while," Finn says, pretending it's not just because he wants to stay up here with Sam.

Finn waits for it, but Sam doesn't cuddle up to him this time. He seems pretty intent on Super Mario World. Meanwhile, Finn watches a few random videos on YouTube, and then checks Facebook. Santana already has her pictures posted from today, and Finn has been tagged in 8 of them. He pulls up the first one and stops short of cursing out loud. He and Sam are both in it, and Finn looks so obvious. It's ridiculous. Sam hasn't seen it yet, and Finn wonders if there's time to ask her to take it down.

When he gets to one of just Sam, he has to stop for a second. She's captioned it with a simple 'Trouty Mouth', and Finn doesn't realize he's about to talk until he's already said, "When was _this_ taken?"

Sam pauses the game and shifts so he can see Finn's screen. "Oh,"  he says, ducking his head. "That was earlier today, on the deck."

" _This_ is the one you were begging her to delete?" Finn asks, incredulous. He looks back at the picture, at Sam licking his lips and looking away from the camera. He looks like a model. The picture is nothing short of gorgeous.

"She's always sayin' stuff about my mouth! I didn't want it to be a thing," Sam says defensively. He's also blushing.

"I wouldn't worry about it, dude. You've already got 5 likes," he says, clicking the button. "Make that 6."

"Don't encourage her!" Sam protests, laughing and shoving Finn's shoulder. He goes back to the game, and Finn clicks through to the next picture. It's of him trying to spray Santana and her camera with the hose.

"Wait, hang on," he says, remembering. He goes back to the hot Sam photo. "I was here when this was taken."

"What?" Sam says, brow furrowed but focusing on the game.

"Yeah, right about here," he says, pointing to where picture!Sam seems to be looking. He's more sure of it the longer he thinks about it. "You were looking at me."

"Goddammit," Sam says under his breath right before Finn hears the depressing sound of a game over. He looks at the picture, then at Finn, then at the picture again, apparently catching up with the conversation. His face is getting redder. "No, I wasn't. Come on, man, can't you just move on?"

He leans over Finn to try to close out the picture, but Finn pulls the laptop away. "No, I can't, actually."

Sam keeps trying to get the computer from Finn's hands, but eventually they manage to leave the computer forgotten on the floor, just wrestling on the bed. Sam has this triumphant laugh every time he gets the upper hand, and Finn finds it more than a little bit hot, which is probably how Sam manages to get on top of him.

Finn hesitates only a second before using his newfound knowledge about Sam being ticklish to his advantage, and soon he's got Sam pinned instead.

"Okay, uncle! Uncle!" Sam says, giggling uncontrollably. "You win!"

Finn smiles down at him, feeling the victory, and Sam's laughing grows more relaxed, and then there's a moment when everything changes. When he realizes that the computer's tossed aside, that he's got Sam right there under him, and that Sam doesn't seem too unhappy to be there.

Sam's lips part, and the decision is made for him. Finn ducks his head and goes for it, a thrill shooting through him when Sam arches up at the last second to crash their mouths together. His hands go back to Sam's hips, now with an entirely different purpose, and this time Sam doesn't squirm away.

When they finally break apart for air, Finn mutters, " _Jesus_ ," at the same time Sam says, " _Finally_."

Finn feels like he should explain. "I wasn't sure if--"

But Sam talks over him at the same time. "I didn't want to--"

And then they both cut themselves off, and after a moment, Finn decides he doesn't care and goes in for another kiss. This time, Sam's tongue winds its way around Finn's, and Finn makes an encouraging noise, gripping Sam's arms and turning his head to deepen the kiss.

They might continue like this for hours, but suddenly they hear footsteps pounding up the stairs and push back, staring at each other as if waiting for the other to push them off.

There's a loud knock on their door a second later, and Finn nearly jumps out of his skin. "Those dudes next door are shooting off fireworks!" Puck shouts through the door. "If we go out now, they said they'll let us shoot off some of the bottle rockets!"

Finn is still dumbstruck, but Sam keeps his cool and yells back, "That's awesome! We'll meet you guys out there!"

Puck seems to already be gone, and Finn hears one of the girls yelling, "Where's my camera?" Everyone seems to be in a hurry to get outside.

Finn scrambles off of Sam, knowing that if they don't get out there, people are going to ask what they were doing. He's grabbed his camera and is about to open the door when Sam whispers, "Wait!"

Finn's hand freezes on the doorknob. Is this it? Is this where Sam will tell him it was stupid and they shouldn't do it again?

But Sam is smiling at him, and he reaches for Finn's jacket. "Your hair is really messed up. You should probably wear your hood up unless you want to answer a lot of questions about who you were making out with."

"Right," Finn says, ducking his head to hide his goofy smile. He pulls the jacket on without looking at Sam, but then has some trouble pulling his hood up.

"Need some help?" Sam murmurs, moving into Finn's space. He reaches up and pulls the hood free and then up onto Finn's head, but he doesn't let go. He tugs on the fabric until Finn leans forward with it, then tilts his head up, meeting Finn's lips in a sweet kiss.

Finn starts to reach for Sam, but Sam has already pulled away. "Race you out there," Sam says, grinning mischievously, and then takes off down the stairs.

"You had a head start," Finn complains when they both get outside, Sam winning the supposed race.

"I'll make it up to you later," Sam says under his breath right as they join the others.

Apparently, they've shown up just in time for the safety lecture.

"Now, Santana's dad will kill me if anything happens to one of you guys, so let's keep this simple," the guy says in a clear, matter-of-fact tone. Finn assumes that of the two guys, he's the one that's Santana's dad's brother. "If you're afraid of fireworks, please stand over there and do not come any closer. If you cannot light a fuse quickly and then move away quickly, do not, I repeat, _do not_ volunteer to light one. After you light the fuse, move away immediately and stand with the rest of the group. If it doesn't shoot off, one of us will go closer to check on it. Are we clear?"

Finn looks around at everybody. Puck and Lauren look excited, Rachel looks wary, and everyone else is somewhere in between. Slowly, they all nod.

"Good. Now who wants to go first?"

Finn figures Puck will leap forward, but Lauren gets there first. She flips the lighter like a pro, and in a flash she's back with the rest of them. There is a long pause, the fire burning down the fuse, and then _bam_ , the rocket shoots up in the air. Finn watches it disappear into the night sky, trying to imagine where it will stop, and then it explodes in white light.

"Cool," Finn says, his reaction drowned out by everyone else's. Puck goes up to light the next one while everybody else gets their cameras ready, and it continues on like this for a while. Finn hands his camera off to Sam when it's his turn to light one, and afterwards he just never asks for it back. Sam's pictures are better than his anyway.

"Alright kids," the other guy says, "I think we're down to our finale. You should probably all stand back."

Finn watches in amazement while they set up 10 separate rockets to set off. He shares an excited look with Sam, moving just a bit closer to him almost without realizing it.

Sam smiles and offers the camera. "Here, you can take the last pictures. I just wanna watch."

He looks at the camera, thinking how much more fun it was just to stand beside Sam and enjoy the show. "Nah, I think the battery's about dead anyway," he says, having no idea if it's true. Sam kind of smirks at him, so it's probably not, but he doesn't say anything.

"Ready?" Santana's uncle shouts, and everyone responds enthusiastically. The two of them work together to light them all as quickly as possible, and they shoot into the air one right after the other. It feels like forever until the first one goes off, but then it's an awesome explosion of colors bunched up in the sky. Finn makes an appreciative noise. He's only ever seen fireworks shows in the park on July 4th; he's never been able to actually see them shot off. When he was little, he'd always thought it was magic.

Sam leans into him a little bit, his shoulder against Finn's own. Finn looks down, sharing a smile with him. They're in the back, so no one's watching, but Finn knows he shouldn't kiss him out here. Too risky. Still, he licks his lips at the thought, and Sam's eyes follow the movement.

They're brought back to the moment as Rachel exclaims, "I got the perfect picture!" Everyone moves in to see the result, but Finn purposefully hangs back and bumps his shoulder against Sam's again before following along.

Everyone is all fired up as they head inside, chatting excitedly about the whole thing and how they need to do it again. Puck claims he can get a guy to buy them for them back home, and they can shoot them off in the park by his house. They keep adding more and more to the plan, and Finn can tell by the look on her face that Rachel doesn't approve before she finally speaks up.

"I don't mean to bring everyone down," she begins, and at least three people moan, " _but_ those type of fireworks are illegal in our state. And even if they weren't, I really don't think we ought to try it without adult supervision. You all saw how close Santana's uncle came to that one rocket!"

Everyone's silent for a minute. She's got a point.

"My dad'll do it," Lauren says, shrugging. She looks at Puck. "You get the goods, I'll host the gig."

"You don't have to come," Santana says, sneering at Rachel. She's still pissed about Nationals, Finn is sure. Finn had been surprised Rachel was even invited, but from what he's heard, Brittany had a lot to do with that.

They keep discussing what they want to get for their own show, and Rachel storms off. Finn doesn't agree with her, but he wishes he had an excuse to leave. He kinda wants to go pick up where he left off with Sam. More than kinda. More like it's the only thing he can think about now that they're back indoors, but he doesn't want anyone to be suspicious.

Finally, Brittany speaks up. "Guys, I'm really tired. Can we finish the movie real quick so Santana and I can go to bed?"

Finn wants to hug her. And also ask about the Santana thing, not for the first time, but he keeps his mouth shut. Everyone shifts their focus back to the TV, and Finn hurries back upstairs before anyone can ask him why he's not sticking around.

Sam is already there when Finn gets upstairs. Finn has to give him kudos, because even he didn't notice Sam leaving. He doesn't get to jump on him immediately, though, because Sam's on the phone. Wait, he's on _Finn's_ phone.

"Sorry, it was ringing and I kind of-- Yeah, Finn's here. I'll put him on." Sam looks apologetic and offers the phone. "It's Kurt."

Finn goes ahead and locks the door - better to do it now than forget later - before taking the phone. He doesn't take his eyes off Sam. "Hey, Kurt. You've got two minutes."

"Ohmygod, Finn, Sam just told me. I can't believe you actually did it! But don't mistake my excitement for approval. You were _supposed_ to text me when it happened."

"We kind of got interrupted," Finn says, watching Sam pick up the DS. If Sam thinks he's going back to his video game now, Finn's gonna have to teach him. Just as soon as he gets off the phone.

"Well then why couldn't you have texted me during the interruption?"

"We had to go outside. And then we had to get away. And then when we got up here, you were already calling."

"Wait, hang on. So you're telling me you just got back in your room?"

"Exactly," Finn says through gritted teeth, trying to convey his frustration.

"Jeez, Finn, why didn't you say so? Call me tomorrow! Ta!"

The first thing Finn does is take away the DS and put it on the floor. "No more video games." He climbs on the bed beside Sam. "No more distractions."

"Sorry," Sam says quietly. They both know that Rachel is just down the hall, and anyone could come upstairs any moment. "I'm from the south. We don't let phones ring without answering them."

Finn smirks, keeping his voice a whisper so they can't be overheard. "I would say you could make it up to me, but I think you already promised me that."

Finn feels like an idiot for a second for saying that. This is so awkward. How is he supposed to pick up where they left off?

But then a smile spreads across Sam's face. He shifts, moving his leg over Finn until, _dear god_ , he's straddling Finn. With a smirk, he looks down at Finn and says, "And you guys call _me_ a dork."

Finn doesn't know if that's an insult, but Sam starts kissing him, so it must not have been too negative. He starts obsessing over whether he's supposed to use tongue, and should he sit up a bit, and where does he put his _hands_ , but then Sam obviously senses something's wrong because he starts to move away, and then it's like everything clicks into place. Finn moves up with him, his fingers sliding into Sam's hair like they belong there, and reclaims Sam's mouth. After several minutes of sticking with the familiar, Finn draws back just enough to bite at Sam's lip and then moves back in to soothe it with his tongue. Sam makes an appreciative noise and then quickly goes quiet, and Finn doesn't know why that's so hot, but it draws a moan out of him, too.

They both kind of freeze for a moment, and even though they don't break the kiss, Finn is sure Sam is listening just as hard as he is. If anyone had happened to be in the hallway, they probably would have heard that, and it wouldn't be hard to figure out what they were hearing.

Once they're both reasonably sure the coast is clear, Sam pulls away. Finn's hands drop to Sam's waist and they both just look at each other.

"Gotta be more careful," Finn finally says, just to say something. His voice kinda shakes a bit. Sam is a perfect weight on his lap, and he's already pretty turned on. He has no idea how he's gonna manage 'more careful' with that mouth and those thighs and just _Sam_ all on top of him.

Sam takes a deep, shaky breath. "You're right," he says, and then moves off of Finn. Finn makes a quiet sound of protest and moves to hold him in place, but Sam pushes his hands away. "We should slow down."

Finn takes a deep breath, breathing out slowly through his nose. He's still staring up at the ceiling when he says, "Dude, you're killing me here."

"I know," Sam says, his voice not too firm either. "I'm killing me too."

The bed creaks a bit as Sam moves into a more comfortable position, but sadly he's still not touching Finn. "You're, uh, not the first guy I've made out with."

Finn shifts onto his side, mirroring Sam. Part of him feels suddenly jealous, but he can tell from Sam's tone that there's more to the story.

"But you are the first guy I've made out with more than once."

The nosy (and still slightly jealous) part of him wants to ask what happened to stop him from making out with the guy (guys? were there several?) again, but he has a feeling it wasn't Sam's choice. "I'd be cool with being the first guy you've made out with more than ten times," Finn says. A hundred times, he thinks. Enough times to lose count.

Sam smiles. "Yeah? What if I insist on taking it slow?"

"Slow is still good. I prefer 'slow' to 'not at all'."

Sam seems to like that answer, because he puts his hand on Finn's hip and moves forward to kiss him.

Finn is hesitant as he kisses back, afraid to do anything that might scare Sam off. Sam picks up on it right away, though, and pulls back.

"Hey, no," Sam says, scooting closer on the bed. "I didn't mean that you should be scared to touch me."

Finn swallows. "But, how do I--"

"Just keep doing what you were doing before," Sam says with a smile. "I'm the one that was going too fast, not you. I promise I'll throw up a red flag if you cross any lines."

"Okay," Finn says as Sam moves back in. He puts his hand on Sam's waist, and after all these nights of sleeping next to him, it feels natural. Or it does until Sam inches closer on the bed, causing his shirt to ride up and Finn's hand to slip underneath until he's touching warm, tanned skin.

Sam pulls back from their lazy kiss and just looks at him for a second. Finn wonders if he should move away. How does one know what a metaphorical red flag looks like?

"I always wondered," Sam begins, then stops and licks his lips. "Wondered what it'd be like to have your hands on me. You... have really nice hands."

Finn swallows thickly. This is Sam's definition of going slow? "Yeah?"

After a moment, Sam exhales in a rush and then flops onto his back, forcing Finn to pull his hand back. "We should probably put in an appearance downstairs soon, just so people won't start wondering where we are."

Finn wants to point out the mixed signals he's getting here, but Sam's pretty much right.

"Why don't you go down, and I just go to sleep?" Finn suggests.

Sam turns toward him and arches an eyebrow. "Are you tired? It's barely past midnight."

Finn shrugs and looks away. "I should probably send Kurt an email so he won't accuse me of ignoring him, then take a quick shower, but yeah, I could sleep." Sam is quiet for a few seconds, and eventually Finn looks back at him out of curiosity. His expression is hard to read. "What?"

"Can you give me like, half an hour? I promised Mercedes we'd talk, but then I can come right back up. As long as I'm down there long enough to look like I'm not rushing back upstairs."

"Dude, you don't need to go to bed just 'cause I am."

Finn's not completely sure, but he thinks Sam's blushing. His voice is small when he responds, "I dunno, I just like sleeping next to you."

Finn swallows thickly. "Yeah, me too."

Sam flashes him a huge smile and then twists to press a quick kiss to Finn's lips before darting off to the bathroom. Finn exhales slowly through his nose and rubs at the outside of his leg while he waits, trying to divert his attention, but it doesn't help. It just makes it worse. He sits up and pulls out his phone for a distraction, and he's halfway through a text to Kurt when Sam gets out of the bathroom.

"Back in a few," he murmurs, leaning into Finn's space as easy as anything and giving him a whole new set of things to think about once Sam leaves. Sam pulls back, nipping at Finn's lip one last time before smiling and taking off into the hallway, shutting the door behind him.

Finn listens intently for the sound of Sam making his way down the stairs, and as soon as he's sure Sam's gone, he pushes off the bed and heads straight into the bathroom, locking both doors. He moves quickly enough that the water from the shower is still too cold when he steps under it, but he doesn't even care as he wraps his hand around his dick and sighs with the relief of it.

He's gotten off to the thought of kissing Sam more times than he'd like to admit, especially in the last few days, but now it's different. Now he actually knows what that mouth feels like against his own, and it's not long before the memory of it along with the thought of it moving down his body brings Finn to the edge. He bites his lip, the shower water now warmed to a perfect heat around him, and imagines Sam settled in between his legs, Finn's hands in his hair as he takes Finn's cock into that gorgeous mouth of his. With a gasp, Finn spills out over his hand, that image burnt into his brain in the best way.

He works himself through his orgasm, trusting the shower wall to keep him upright and waiting for his breathing to return to normal. God, if Sam ever does want to do that, Finn's gonna have to start mentally preparing himself so it'll last longer than five seconds. It's the hottest thing he can imagine happening to him, and that's saying something.

"Half an hour," he says out loud, reminding himself he's in a hurry. If Sam gets back upstairs and Finn is still in the shower, he's going to wonder why. Finn blushes. Being with Sam is great, but he's not quite ready to admit to the thought he just had. Then Sam definitely would put up a red flag.

When he steps out of the shower, the combination of the humidity from the shower and that sated feeling of having just gotten off make him feel like he really could go straight to sleep. But he wasn't lying about Kurt, so he pulls up his laptop and does his best to type out an email that will satisfy most of Kurt's questions.

> Kurt,  
> sorry I didnt text you dude but in my defence things were kinda crazy. anyway yeah we kissed a few times and sam wants to take things slow so thats what were doing. thanks for your help and tell blaine i said thanks.
> 
> Finn

He checks over the email address he's sending to like five times before clicking 'Send'. The last thing he wants to do is accidentally send this to everyone he knows.

He closes his computer, puts his phone on silent, then turns the light off to wait for Sam. He starts to wonder what they can do tomorrow since it's Finn's night to cook, and then--

"Hey, Finn," Sam whispers, his hand cool where it's slipped under Finn's T-shirt.

Finn blinks at him blearily in the dark and thinks, _I'm allowed to kiss you now._

He only realizes he's said it out loud when Sam smiles brightly and says, "Yes, you are."

The resulting kiss is quick but still awesome, and then Sam slides under the covers right next to him.

"Sorry it took so long," Sam whispers as he gets comfortable. "Mercedes got on a rant about Lauren - apparently they're fighting, must've missed that - and I couldn't exactly explain why I needed to get away without three other people hearing."

"S'okay," Finn mumbles around a yawn. He turns over on his other side so that he's facing Sam. "I didn't know they were fighting either. How long has that been going on?"

Sam shrugs, snaking his arm around Finn's back. "All week, apparently, but it came to a head today. I think I was too caught up in our thing to notice." His hand makes its way under the hem of Finn's shirt and comes to rest against the skin of Finn's back. Finn likes that they're able to do this on purpose now.

"Lauren goes home tomorrow, though."

"Sunday," Sam corrects, but then he scoots in that little bit closer and pulls Finn in for a kiss, so Finn doesn't point out that technically it's after midnight so _technically_ tomorrow is Sunday.

"I'll fill you in tomorrow," Sam says, "so you won't accidentally say the wrong thing to Mercedes. But right now I wanna go to sleep."

"Sleep is good," Finn agrees, already feeling the pull of it now that he's comfortable again. He tries to say 'goodnight,' but it comes out as more of a mumble as he slips off to sleep.

******

The next day is really strange. Finn has a fantastic morning, but after he leaves his room, he barely even sees Sam for the longest time. The couple of times he does, Sam runs off to do something else. By lunchtime, Finn's pretty sure Sam's avoiding him. Finn goes to great pains to save him a seat on the couch where they can eat their sandwiches and watch the Daily Show, but Sam opts to eat at the table with Puck, where he can't even see the TV.

For the greater part of the afternoon, Finn pretends it's fine. He goes out of his way to get the full story from Mercedes about why she's mad at Lauren (something about clothes and singing that he doesn't understand, but he tries), and he even volunteers to drive Brittany and Santana to that souvenir shop Brittany's been dying to go to.

When they get back from their outing, Brittany comes to talk to him alone.

"Why are you so sad?"

"What? I'm not sad," Finn says, giving her a smile to prove his point. "See?"

She hands him one of the many keychains she'd bought at the souvenir shop. "The turtles want you to be happy."

Finn stares at the turtle keychain as she walks away, oddly touched.

He decides that she's right; he is sad. Fortunately it's his night to make dinner with Sam, so while they're preparing it, Finn brings up the subject.

"Hey, are you mad at me for some reason?"

Sam gives him a blank look. His voice is quiet when he says, "Dude, we made out for like an hour this morning. When did I ever give you the impression I was mad at you?"

Finn feels a rush of relief, but he still feels slightly unsettled. "Just, you've been avoiding me all day."

Sam is quiet for a minute as he focuses on cutting up lettuce for tacos. "I kinda figured you'd want to be discreet."

"Discreet?"

"Yeah, you know, keep things quiet so nobody figures us out."

"I know what discreet means," Finn says, or well, he'd had a good idea. "What makes you think I'd want that?"

Sam stops chopping, and Finn can feel his eyes on him. His tone is disbelieving when he says, "You don't?"

Finn shrugs one shoulder briefly. "I don't wanna go crazy, but, I dunno, I was kinda lookin' forward to," he stops and lowers his voice to more of a whisper, "being able to flirt. Without... thinkin' you might punch me in the face any second for it." He chances a glance at Sam, and he's almost smiling, which Finn takes as a good sign. "Besides, it's more likely they'd notice you avoiding me after everything we've done together all week."

"But what if they figure it out? You know how everyone in Glee likes to talk."

Finn shrugs. "Let 'em talk. They never said anything before. And if they do, we'll deal with it then." He sets the food aside and turns to face Sam, ready for whatever reaction.

Sam smiles wider than Finn has ever seen him smile. Then he seems to realize he's doing it, because he bites his lip and looks back at the lettuce. He doesn't look at Finn when he murmurs, "You should go upstairs like you're looking for something we bought for dinner." Sam glances at him to make sure he's listening, then back at the lettuce. "When I'm done here, I'll come up and get you."

"What am I looking for?" Finn asks, confused.

"Nothing," Sam says. "I just really want to kiss you, and I don't think I should with Puck and Lauren sitting right over there."

Finn makes it up the stairs in record time.

******

The next couple of days are great, now that Finn and Sam are on the same page. Finn's nights and 'mornings' (more like afternoons, but whenever he wakes up) are the best parts of his day, and the parts in between aren't half bad either.

They have to do some quick thinking on Sunday night after Lauren leaves and frees up a bedroom. Luckily Sam is quick with a response, saying he already promised Mercedes she could have the room so she wouldn't have to share with Rachel.

Finn immediately goes off to inform Mercedes of the lie, and in the process, he has to tell her about Sam. He's nervous about outing them all night until he gets a chance to tell Sam, who is luckily completely fine with it.

"Are you sure?" Finn asks. "I didn't think we wanted anyone to know, I mean, besides Kurt."

Sam looks at him for a long time, as if he's trying to figure something out. Finn tries not to squirm under his gaze. "Mercedes is cool. She won't tell anyone."

Finn breathes a sigh of relief. "Okay, cool."

******

Everything goes smoothly after that, until Tuesday night.

Everybody's crowded into the living room area watching _Inception_. Sam's apparently seen it more times than he can remember, and Finn still doesn't get it and probably never will, so he's more focused on how Sam is pressed right up next to him, even closer than usual because they're sharing the couch with Rachel. It's really dark, and they're off to the side, so Finn doesn't think much of it when Sam puts his hand on Finn's knee. He smiles and goes to bump his knee against Sam's, but then he looks around and Brittany is looking right at them, or more specifically, right at Sam's hand.

Panicking, Finn says, "Dude, what are you doing?" and pulls his knee away.

Sam looks at him, shocked, as several others look around to find out what's going on.

"Sorry," Sam says quickly. He makes a pained face and adds, "Leg cramp. Had to grab on to something to keep my mind off it."

Everyone is staring, but they soon lose interest and go back to the movie. Mercedes looks confused, though, and Santana just keeps glaring at Finn.

After a few minutes, Sam takes off outside. Santana then raises her eyebrows at Finn in a way that somehow threatens violence, so Finn goes after him.

" _What the hell_ , Finn?" Sam says as soon as Finn finds him.

"Look, I'm sorry, but Brittany was looking right at us. If I just ignored you, she would have known something was up."

"Jesus, Finn. Have you ever made a decision in your life and actually stuck with it?"

Finn feels anger flare up in his chest. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You _just_ told me that you wanted me to keep up with the flirting, and now you make a scene when I do just that? You made me look like an idiot, Finn. You could've just pushed my hand away and no one would have noticed, but instead you made a huge deal about it and called me out in front of everyone."

He's got a point, and Finn still feels really guilty that he caused a scene. "I know, I didn't mean to. I just panicked, so I did the opposite of what I wanted to do. It was stupid, and I'm sorry." Sam looks a little bit less angry at that. "But we're gonna have to keep things quiet, you know, while we're dating. I mean, at McKinley--"

"Hold up," Sam interrupts. He looks sadder than he did before, but just as angry. "We're not  _dating_ , Finn. Dating requires actually thinking about someone other than yourself, and wanting to be together outside of just Santana's parents' bedroom. We may be more than friends, but we're definitely not dating."

Finn swallows. He doesn't like the sound of that. "I'm not--"

"And you know, I was prepared for that. I always figured, if we were ever together, that it'd be in secret. And that was fine. But _you_ told me it wasn't like that. You told me you weren't ashamed of me. So what, that was a lie? It's perfectly fine for me to come on to you in public until someone notices, and then I'm repulsive?"

"Of _course_ not, Sam--"

"Save it. I really like you, Finn. You're probably my greatest weakness. The Green Goblin would probably capture you to get me to do his will. But I can't handle you changing your mind all the time about us. I'd rather not be together at all than get jerked around every day by whether or not you want people to know."

Finn doesn't know what to say. He feels like a jerk, but he's not ready to just... _come out_ , not to everyone.

Sam sighs, seemingly taking Finn's silence for agreement. "I'll sleep in Lauren's old room tonight. Mercedes won't mind switching back. Get back to me if you ever decide what you want."

"Wait, Sam," Finn says, grabbing Sam's wrist before he can turn around. "I really am sorry. Just... This is all new. I need time to figure it out. And maybe I don't deserve it, but... don't give up on me yet?"

Based on his expression, Sam seems to be torn between smiling and looking even angrier. The fact that Finn can tell that just by looking makes his chest hurt. "Just make sure whatever you decide is for real," Sam finally says, sounding sad. "And for the record, this is exactly why I wanted to take things slow." He pulls his wrist back, and this time Finn lets him go.

It takes a long time for him to fall asleep that night.

******

Finn has never been more nervous in his life, though that might be the anxiety talking. He stays huddled against the warm metal and stares at his phone, trying not to think about where he is or what he'll have to do. Instead he thinks about Sam, and how Mercedes might be handling the situation right now, and how long does it take to walk down the beach? What's taking so long?

But then he hears voices, and god, they're so far away, but he wouldn't hear anything if they weren't as close as they could be. He stares at his phone some more, willing it to ring, and this time it does.

When he answers, all Mercedes says is, "It's all on you now, Romeo," before handing the phone over to Sam.

"Hello?" Sam says, sounding confused.

"Sam, hey."

"Finn, what's going on?" Sam sounds tired. Finn knows how that is. He never thought sleeping alone would be a problem before this.

"I thought about it," Finn says sincerely. "I really did. It's all I could think about for the last twenty-four hours, and I even talked to Kurt about it, and I'm sure. I do want to date you."

"That's... great," Sam says, still confused. "Why are you telling me this on the phone? Where are you?"

"I'm... up here."

There's a long pause, and Finn waits for Sam to get it. He has to get it, because Finn doesn't know how he's ever going to move. "You didn't."

"Yeah," Finn says, trying not to think too hard about it. "That thing you said about your greatest weakness, it made me think about fears and like, maybe there are worse things than a few jerks giving me a hard time at school."

"So you climbed the water tower?!" Sam says, incredulous.

"Yeah, I dunno. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Didn't Mario climb towers for Peach?"

Sam's laugh seems to surprise even him. "Why do I gotta be the princess in this scenario?"

Finn smiles. "Dude, you made me Mary Jane in the last one."

"Uh, actually Gwen Stacy, but... fair enough." He sounds like he's smiling, which gives Finn enough confidence to go on.

"Look, I don't know if I'm ready to tell everyone yet, but that doesn't mean it has to be a complete secret. We can go out to places in like, Lima Heights, or over near Dalton, where we won't run into people. Maybe you can come over and meet my mom and Burt. And then when the summer's over, maybe I'll be ready to tell everybody. We can start by telling the rest of the glee club and work our way out from there."

"God, Finn, can you please shut up long enough for me to climb up there and see you?"

Finn's heart jumps in his chest. "Sure," he says, but Sam has already ended the call.

It takes forever for Sam to climb up. Finn keeps having horrible flashes of thought, like what if Sam fell and he didn't know and he would be stuck up here unable to help and unable to climb down. The what-ifs only get stronger as time goes on, until finally he has to shout, "You're still out there, right?"

"I'm almost there, dude, try not to have a panic attack."

Sam goes straight to Finn when he gets to the top, assuring him that he's okay. "How in the world did you make that climb?"

"It was fine at first, and then when I started freaking out, it was scarier to think of climbing down than to keep going up. I couldn't look down."

"You are absolutely insane," Sam says, and kisses him. Finn makes a little noise of enjoyment, followed quickly by a low moan as Sam's tongue reacquaints itself with Finn's own. He finds some of his anxiety melting away as his thoughts focus in on Sam, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. When they pull away, breathing heavily, Finn can almost forget that he's on a rickety platform four stories above the ground. Almost.

"I was gonna stand at the edge in a big romantic gesture to wave at you when you answered the phone, but I was afraid if I looked down, I'd pass out and plummet to my death."

"That wouldn't have been very romantic," Sam agrees, smiling a bit giddily. "Can I say my part now?"

Finn nods.

Sam settles in next to him, propped up against the tower and as far from the edge as possible. It's quiet for a few seconds. "I'm trying to think of a less embarrassing way to say that I've liked you for ages, but I'm not coming up with anything."

"That's not embarrassing," Finn says. Trapping yourself on top of a water tower just for a stupid gesture, now that's embarrassing.

Sam chuckles. "Well, it was when I thought you were straight. But anyway, in all that time, I never really expected you to, like, become some different person. I like that you generally try to avoid drama and that you care about how people see you and that you speak up for the people that matter to you. I guess I'm just saying, you don't need to change who you are for me, just... make room for me. To be honest, the thought of everyone at school knowing scares the shit out of me too, but I never want to lie about it. If you're my boyfriend, I want to be proud of the fact."

Finn looks hopeful. "So you do... you wanna be my boyfriend?"

" _Yeah_ ," Sam says, dopey smile intact. "But, I mean. Only if you're ready for that. The whole point of us going slow was that I didn't want to scare you off."

"So if I promise not to be scared off, we can go fast?" Finn asks excitedly.

Sam laughs, resting his hand on Finn's leg. "Not while we have seven nosy neighbors sleeping so close by."

Finn feels a rush of feeling - a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and arousal. He'd only been joking, but the thought of actually doing some of that stuff with Sam... it's new, but not unpleasant. Finn should have plenty of time to familiarize himself with the possibilities before they happen.

"Jesus, Finn," Sam says, biting his lip and looking away from Finn. "You gotta stop looking like that."

"Like what?" Finn asks, feeling his face heat up.

"Like I could make out with you at the top of this water tower for three hours until we're both sunburnt and hungry from missing dinner and you wouldn't even care."

Finn swallows. "And what's wrong with that?"

Sam claps him on the shoulder before standing up. Finn's stomach lurches just thinking about it. "Sunburns hurt, and if you're up here until dark, we'll never get you down."

Sam offers his hand, but Finn just stares at it warily for several seconds, unmoving.

"If you stand up, you can kiss me."

Finn takes his hand, but he takes his time standing up. When he does, Sam wraps his arms around him firmly and kisses him like he means it.

Finn's breath is coming fast as they pull away, and Sam smiles mischievously. "There's more where that came from if you climb down."

Finn feels a rush of exhilaration in combination with a twist of his gut. "Uh."

"Deal?" Sam says, taking a step away. He doesn't let go, though, and gives Finn a second to think.

"What if... what if I climb down first, and you stay right above me so I don't have to look down?"

Sam smirks. "You just want an excuse to stare at my ass."

Finn shrugs. "It is a nice side effect."

"Deal," Sam says, and Finn takes a deep breath.

******

Through lots of cursing and assurances from Sam, Finn manages to survive the climb down. They even have time for a proper makeout session before they have to get ready and head over to Santana's uncle's place for dinner.

Their house is amazing. Finn can't help but stare at all the crazy things they have hanging on their wall, and the stories behind all of the things are even better. In between everyone else, Finn asks question after fascinated question all through dinner, all while Sam's hand rests comfortably on his knee under the table. He realizes halfway through dinner that the guy that's not Santana's uncle isn't just a roommate; the two of them are actually a couple. No one else seems surprised by this, and likewise they don't seem to have a problem with it. It's kind of the best night ever.

Finn is all geared up to get back to their room and talk about how amazing it was with Sam (maybe with some making out in between, if he's honest), but on the short walk back to their house, Rachel stops him. "Why don't you and I go for a walk?" she asks, all doe eyes and a big smile.

"Uh," Finn says, "I uh, I promised Sam that we'd duke it out in Smash Brothers."

"He doesn't mind waiting though, do you Sam?" she asks, taking Finn's arm. Finn stares at her like she's crazy. She looks back with those big eyes and whispers, "We haven't had a chance to talk the whole time I've been here."

Yeah, because Finn's got nothing to say. He'd asked her out; she'd chosen Jesse. Not that he has a problem with that anymore. Now that he's had time and some distance, he's grateful that he didn't get back together with her. But he still does think of her as a friend, which is why he decides to go along with her. He sends an apologetic look to Sam and says, "I guess I have time for a short walk."

"It's cool," Sam says, holding his hand out for a fistbump. "I'll just get Mike Chang to teach me all his secrets while we wait on you," he says, going along with the lie.

With everyone now inside or close to it and Rachel standing on Finn's other side, Finn is able to take Sam's hand and squeeze it rather than taking the fistbump. He gets a soft, real smile from Sam in return before he heads inside, and it makes him kinda giddy. "Great, where are we walkin'?" he asks Rachel as he stuffs his hands in his pockets.

"Let's just walk," she says succinctly. She continues to cling to his arm as the head down the beach. "I wanted to talk to you about this summer."

"Okay..."

"There's no denying that you and I make a good team. We have the most influential voices in the glee club... mostly because mine's louder, but the point is that when we agree on something, the rest of the group seems to go along with it."

Finn stops walking, and Rachel chooses to stop rather than let go of his arm. "Rachel, what's this about?"

She tosses her hair back and purses her lips before confidently saying, "I think it'd be in our best interests to get the glee club together at least once a week all summer." She's got that look and the posture that she's always had just before Finn goes along with whatever she says, but it's not having any effect on him today.

He shakes his arm free of her grasp and continues to walk down the beach. "I dunno, Rachel, nobody's gonna be up for that, and with people doing summer jobs and vacations, it'd be really hard to schedule a time when everybody could even show up."

"Finn," Rachel begins, and Finn shudders to think what's gonna follow in that tone, "this is my _senior year_. Do you know what that means? It means it is my _last chance_ to bring home that Nationals trophy. _Our_ last chance. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Not really. "Sure it does, Rachel, but I don't see how meeting all summer is gonna do any good. We barely get anything done when we're meeting five times a week with a supervisor. What makes you think we'd do better during summer vacation?"

"Because... because practice makes perfect! And we could even give someone different a solo every week, that should drive attendance. If I talk to my dads, I bet they'd be willing to bake something for us every week, and then there'd even be free food!"

Finn sighs. He knows this conversation won't be over until Rachel gets something she wants. He turns to head back toward the beach house and says, "Look, I still don't think it's a good idea. No matter what you tell them, the group isn't gonna want to take a break from their time off to prepare solos or plan a setlist. But if _you_ pitch them the idea, then I'll agree to come."

She's silent for a long time, which is never a good sign. "But don't you want to get other people to come? I mean, it'd be awkward if it was just you and me singing duets all summer."

"That's not-- Wait, why would it be awkward?" Finn says, catching up with the rest of her statement. He sighs and starts walking faster down the beach. He's ready to be done with this conversation. "Listen, I know you like to feel like you have the upper hand in everything, but it's been a while since you made your choice, and I've moved on."

"Don't be mad," she says quietly. "I just... _really_ want to win next year. I'll do whatever it takes."

Finn smiles at her. "I know. It's what I admire about you. And I'll back you up, but when everybody starts to argue, it's on you to convince them. Deal?"

Her answering smile is genuine, and Finn feels good for having caused it. "Deal."

******

Thanks to his lie, Finn doesn't get Sam all to himself until late into the night. It's fun to play Smash Brothers with Mike Chang and whoever else is willing to play against them, but all he can think about is how he's itching to get his hands on his boyfriend. He has a _boyfriend_ ; that's so weird.

With everyone now gone to bed, they have to be extra careful to be quiet. Sam locks the door and flips off the light, and the next thing he knows Sam is climbing on top of him in the dark, whispering, "Hi."

"Hi," Finn answers. He waits for his eyes to adjust a little bit, enough so he can see Sam's smile, and then he pulls Sam in for a kiss.

Things get heated pretty quickly, with Sam's hands rucking up his shirt to get at skin and his tongue moving in just the right way to pull a moan from Finn if he wasn't taking extra special care not to make noise. He squirms a little under Sam, unconsciously looking for some friction.

This is usually the part where Sam stops, but tonight, he just makes a quiet noise and goes in for a deeper kiss. He shifts so Finn can _feel_ how hard he is against his leg. It's hot, but it's too much too soon, and Finn pulls back abruptly.

Even in the dark, Sam looks wrecked, and a little disoriented. "Sorry," Finn says quickly. "I just uh..."

"No, it's okay," Sam says, getting it. He takes a deep, shuddering breath and then slowly extricates himself from Finn's grasp.

He stretches out next to Finn, no longer touching, and Finn takes a long moment to curse himself in every way he can think of. He'd thought he was ready to do whatever with Sam, but apparently not. "Sorry," he says again.

"Me too," Sam says, but Finn doesn't know what he has to be sorry for. "This is new for me too, it's just... it's really hard to stop with you."

They're quiet for a long time, with Finn waiting to cool off and Sam probably doing the same. Finn's mind starts to wander to thoughts of the summer and how he's gonna spend his time. He wishes they didn't ever have to leave this house.

He turns his head on the pillow to look at Sam. "We should go out next week."

Sam turns toward him. "That'd be cool. Where?"

"The movies maybe? Kurt told me that X-Men movie was really good, which is a pretty bold statement coming from him."

"Wow, yeah. How'd he even see it? He told me he only goes to a theater with an actual stage."

Finn laughs. "I think the Warblers had a lot to do with it. You interested?"

The house creaks suddenly, and they both go quiet, realizing they hadn't been talking quite in a whisper. As they listen for anyone potentially awake, Sam turns and takes Finn's hand, squeezing it. "Yeah, definitely interested," he whispers.

Finn smiles and sits up so he can kiss him properly. "I guess we should go to bed."

"Yeah," Sam says, then contradicts himself by fisting his hand in Finn's shirt and pulling him in for another kiss. After a moment, though, he lets him go. "Goodnight."

******

The next day, the first sound Finn hears is a consistent banging, loud and sudden enough to make him jump. He makes an unearthly noise and opens his eyes, realizing after a second that it's someone at his bedroom door.

Rachel's voice carries through the door. "Finn, wake up! It's practically noon and I need your help with my speech to the group."

Finn drops his head back on the pillow and curls further into Sam, tilting his forehead against the back of his neck.

Sam mumbles something unintelligible that pretty accurately sums up Finn's feelings on the matter.

Meanwhile, she's still pounding on the door and speaking loudly, demanding a response.

"I'm still asleep, Rachel! Go away, I'll come find you later. When I'm _awake_."

"I want to give my proposal as soon as possible, Finn, and I need your help."

"Great," he says. "I'll come find you."

They hear her huff before adding, "I'm coming back!" She waits a few seconds, but when Finn doesn't say anything else, they can hear her stomp off in annoyance.

Finn sighs heavily, mumbling his displeasure at being woken up against the back of Sam's neck. The words don't really come out right, but Sam hums in agreement all the same.

"I was having such a nice dream, too," Sam mumbles, rolling over onto his back. His hair is sticking up all over the place, and he looks up at Finn with a sleepy smile. It's becoming a problem how hard Finn has fallen for him.

"Yeah?" Finn sits up a bit to lean over him. "Featuring anyone I know?"

"Something like that," Sam says, reaching for him. It only takes a few seconds for Finn to stop worrying about morning breath and just enjoy the kiss.

"Hey," Sam says, "you know that one polo shirt you have? The one that you always pop the collar on, no matter how ridiculous it looks?"

"It looks cool like that," Finn says defensively.

Sam smiles. "Do you have it with you?"

Finn thinks about it. He'd kind of thrown random clothes in his bag when he was packing, but he thinks he'd have seen it by now if it was there. "I don't think so. Why?"

Sam reaches out to trace a line across the side of Finn's neck, making Finn shudder. "Because you seem to really like it when I pay attention to your neck, and I'm kinda really good at giving hickeys."

Finn swallows thickly. "Oh."

"Yeah," Sam says, smirking. "Guess we'll have to save it for after we get home."

"I could wear a bandaid?" Finn tries, but the answering laugh from Sam probably means that's a no.

"Promise it'll be worth the wait," Sam says before curling his hand around the back of Finn's neck and pulling him back down. His fingers trace patterns over Finn's neck as they kiss, and Finn does his best to return the favor by slipping his hand under Sam's shirt, mapping out the smooth skin there.

Rachel's voice shows up again out of nowhere. "Listen, Finn, I know you like to sleep in, but--oh."

Finn doesn't even realize her voice is coming from a different side of the room, but Sam freezes up and pushes him away, and before he has time to be properly hurt, Finn realizes she's standing in the room.

"Jeez, Rachel, don't you knock?" Finn says, moving far away from Sam and pulling the covers up, as if that's gonna make a difference. She came in through the bathroom door, which just makes Finn even angrier.

She's looking away, Finn guesses out of politeness, but it isn't doing anything to help her case. "Sorry, I thought--"

"You didn't think, you never think about anyone but yourself," Finn bites out. "Did you even--"

"Finn, hey," Sam says softly, touching Finn's arm under the covers. "Don't."

Finn looks at him and then stops to think about what he's doing. Shouting at Rachel will only draw attention. He takes a deep breath and says calmly, "Come in, and shut the door."

"I-I didn't mean to intrude, I--"

"Just do it," Sam says, shooting her a look.

She does as he says, and then there's a long, awkward pause. Finn has no idea what to say.

"So, you guys are together," Rachel finally says, just the slightest hint of a question in her voice.

Finn looks at Sam to find him already looking back, and Finn can feel his mouth tilting up into a smile. "Yeah," they say at the same time.

"Can we trust you to keep this a secret?" Finn asks. "It's not something we're ashamed of. We just don't want everyone to know yet."

She nods. "Of course."

"No, but can we _actually_ trust you. Like you won't threaten to out us if we don't support your Summer Glee Project or whatever random idea you have next."

She looks properly apologetic. "I won't, I promise. It's... it's not my place." Finn remembers suddenly that she's got two gay dads. Maybe this is one thing they can trust her on.

"What's this summer project I keep hearing about?" Sam asks.

Rachel lights up and launches into her explanation, and Finn's just grateful for the change of subject.

"That sounds _great_ ," Sam says when she's done giving the details.

Finn's eyebrows shoot up. "Really?"

"Yeah. I'm up for anything that's away from work and outta the house."

"See?" Rachel says. "Not everyone wants to sit around their house all summer."

"That's not what I said," Finn defends, feeling a little let down by Sam's response without knowing why. "And I said I'd back you up."

"We'll both back you up," Sam says.

"Thanks!" Rachel says with a smile. "Oh, you've just given me a great idea for how to pitch it to the group! I've gotta go write it down before I forget." And just like that, she's disappearing back through the bathroom door. After a few seconds, they hear her voice out in the hall. "Expect a formal announcement at dinner!"

Finn buries his face in his pillow and screams into it. It's gonna be a long day.

******

As they're making lunch, Sam cuts Finn off in the middle of a story about his skateboarding past because Rachel comes downstairs. "Hold that thought," he says, then catches Rachel before she goes outside.

She seems pleased by whatever he's got to say, and Finn tries not to take it personally. He'd thought Sam was amused by his story, but apparently he was just being polite.

He finishes making his sandwich and takes it to the couch with a sigh, turning on the TV. When Sam joins him again, he pretends to be engrossed in the show. It works until it goes to commercial break, and then he's stuck.

"So, what happened next with the skateboarding? You can't leave me in suspense, dude. I gotta hear the exciting conclusion."

Finn shrugs. "Just lost interest I guess." He takes a huge bite of his sandwich and stares hard at the TV, as if he's mesmerized by the toothpaste commercial.

Sam's knee bumps against his slightly. "Something's bothering you." he says. "What's up?"

Finn glances at him. He wants to be annoyed that Sam can read him so well, but he can't manage it. "I dunno, I just... Why are you so into Rachel's idea?"

Sam quirks an eyebrow, looking confused by the question. "I told you. It'll be a good excuse to get out of the house. Plus," he drops his voice, even though no one's around, "I'll get to see you."

"Yeah, but... I thought maybe you'd wanna 'get out of the house' and come visit me."

"Ah," Sam says, looking away. Finn gets a sinking feeling. "Here's the deal. My parents are kinda going crazy about college right now. They already want me to be filling out scholarship applications, and they think pretty much every waking moment that I'm not working, I should be doing something else I can put on my resume. I can come visit you sometimes, but if I do it too much, they'll just accuse me of being lazy and playing video games with my friends all the time instead of doing something meaningful."

Finn's stomach drops out. So much for dating all summer. "Oh."

"Yeah," Sam says, obviously unhappy. "But I've got a plan. I can just tell 'em Rachel's glee thing is twice a week - once at her place, once at yours. Then I'll have an excuse to come visit you every week."

"Oh," Finn says again, his mouth curving into a smile. "Cool."

"I thought so," Sam says, smiling now. They return their attention to the TV as it comes back from commercial, but after a few seconds, Sam adds in a hushed tone, "I think it's kinda hot that you want me all to yourself all summer."

Finn looks at him, the side of his mouth quirking up as his gaze drops to Sam's lips, but then they hear the sound of the sliding door opening and snap back to watching TV.

It turns out that it's only Mercedes, who walks up behind them and says quietly, "I wasn't kidding about y'all being worse than Kurt and Blaine."

"We'll take that as a compliment," Sam says, smiling and holding his hand up for a fistbump. Finn bumps it, exaggerating the resulting 'explosion' and smiling when Sam does the same.

Mercedes just rolls her eyes and laughs at them as she heads upstairs. Finn waits until she goes around the corner to say, "We are the worst secret-keepers ever."

"I know," Sam says. "No more private flirting in places where we can't act on it."

Finn frowns. "But..."

Sam shoves at his shoulder. "Shut up and eat your lunch."

Finn smiles and does as he's told, knowing they'll be heading upstairs for a few minutes before going outside.

******

Rachel makes her pitch at dinner, incorporating Sam's idea for competitions, with prizes, that are voted on out loud where you can't vote for yourself. Different themes every week, including one for dancing, same sex duets, opposite sex duets, ballads, and even a couple where Rachel won't compete, "so the rest of you will have a shot." Despite her last little arrogant comment, people seem into the idea, all except for Santana.

"What's in it for me, huh?" she says bitingly. "I'd have to put up with _you_ every week, and it's not like I'd ever have a fair shot at winning. And I'm not gonna kiss everybody's ass just so you'll all vote for me to win some cupcakes or whatever-the-fuck."

Brittany says her name softly and reaches out to place her hand on Santana's leg. She smiles when Santana looks at her and says, "I think it could be fun."

Finn's pretty sure that's the end of the argument. Santana tends to do whatever Brittany says, especially if she says it like that. But today something's different, because Santana pushes her away. "Why do you always have to take their side, huh?" she says harshly before launching into a rant that incorporates lots of things Finn doesn't understand and at least a couple references to making out. Everyone's eyebrows are raised for at least part of her speech.

At the end, she makes a frustrated noise and mutters something in Spanish before pushing away from the table and stomping upstairs. After an awkward pause, Rachel clears her throat and says, "So I'll see you all next Thursday?"

******  
   
Later that night, Tina wins the best-4-out-of-7 rock-paper-scissors match and decides to watch _Bridget Jones' Diary_. Thanks to Kurt, Finn has (unfortunately) seen it, so he slips out onto the deck as they're starting it up. He slips his shoes off and steps down onto the sand, now cool from the sun going down. He doesn't realize anyone else is out there with him until a voice speaks up.  
   
"Watch it, Big Foot, there are killer crabs that scurry across the sand after dark. I hear they love the toes of awkward giants."  
   
"Santana?" Finn says, squinting to find her in the dark.

"I was thinking about going to sleep at Uncle Rob's place, but I still haven't decided if I trust you losers in my parents' house without my supervision." As his eyes adjust to the dark, he finally finds her sitting beside the old tire they found last Monday with her legs crossed in front of her.  
   
Finn drops down next to her, knowing if he asked permission that she wouldn't give it. "I'm pretty sure you have the power to dictate where everybody sleeps. Why don't you just switch with somebody for the night?"

She stays quiet for a minute, sifting sand between her fingers. "Nobody gets to sleep next to Brittany but me."

Well, there's something Finn can identify with. "Are you and her--" Santana snarls, and Finn cuts himself off. "Hey, don't kill me, I'm just asking. Sam and me... we're kinda..."

"Fucking?"

" _Dating_ ," Finn says, cutting his eyes at her. The effect is lost in the dark.

"Yeah, but are you fooling around and _calling_ it dating or is he actually your sugar pie honeybunch?" she says, her voice going icky sweet at the end.

He knows she's making fun of him, but he doesn't care. It gives him kind of a thrill to say, "He's actually my boyfriend. We're going out next week."

That shuts her up for a minute. "Why are you telling me this? Haven't you heard I'm the number one saboteur of McKinley High relationships?"

"Number one what?"

"I ruin people's relationships for cheap thrills. Don't you listen to the rumors?"

"You don't, though." Santana snorts, but Finn doesn't let that stop him. "Well, maybe you have before, but only when it benefits you. I, uh, I'm not exactly innocent of that either."

"Well well well. Finn Hudson admitting to his flaws. I never thought I'd see the day."

Finn blushes, wondering if he should even reply to that. After a few seconds, he says, "I'm not perfect, but I'm trying to get it right."

Santana's voice is serious when she speaks up again. "Sam's not really a closet case, you know. We'd only been dating a week before he told me he was into dudes as well as ladies. He's gonna want to tell people."

"Yeah," Finn says. He's started sifting sand through his hands, now. It's oddly soothing. "We've already told a few people. And I think... I dunno, it wouldn't be so bad to tell everyone in Glee. They all support Kurt; why wouldn't they support Sam and me?"

"Yeah, but you're not gonna be able to tell _just_ the Glee Club," Santana points out. "Word's gonna get out, and then you'll lose that precious popularity you love so much."

Finn shrugs. "They already say I'm gay anyway." He narrows his eyes at her. "You seem to have given this a lot of thought."

"No shit, Sherlock," she mutters under her breath.

"Hang on, so you and Brittany really are--"

" _Don't_ ," Santana cuts in, "say it. And anyway, we're not. She won't... be with me until I'm willing to tell everyone."

Finn just looks at her for a minute. She's turned away from him slightly, her head ducked down and her hair falling in her face, and it's by far the most vulnerable Finn's ever seen her. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I don't know, you started it. Why are you even talking to me? No one else is." She tosses a shell down the beach, and Finn watches it disappear into the dark.

"That's because they're all afraid you'll yell at them next. If Brittany's not safe, none of us are."

"Which begs the question, why are you here?"

"I figure I'm probably past due for a Santana lecture, especially after the way I acted earlier this week during _Inception_."

"Yeah, what was the story there?" she asks, shifting around to stretch her legs out in front of her, now turned toward Finn.

He raises his eyebrows. "Do you actually wanna know?"

"I wouldn't be wasting my breath if I didn't," she says, and Finn can imagine her eyeroll even if he can't quite see it.

So he tells her the story, not sugarcoating any of the details. It's actually the most he's told anyone about how he really felt, because the call to Kurt and Blaine the morning after had been more 'help me' and 'tell me what to do' than 'this is how I feel,' and he hasn't had reason to get into it since. "And I dunno," he says, finally getting to his point, "I guess I figured out I'd rather be a loser with him than popular and lonely."

"Fuck," Santana says, throwing down her handful of sand. She stands up and strides toward back toward the house with purpose, leaving Finn by himself.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"To make amends!" she shouts over her shoulder. "If _you_ can work out your stupid shit, then I definitely can."

Finn scrambles to his feet, not wanting to miss this, but all Santana does once inside is demand Brittany come talk to her outside. He kind of hangs out in the doorway, but Santana glares and points inside, so he gets the impression he's not invited to this part.

They come back inside a bit later with their pinkies locked, but Santana doesn't make eye contact with Finn. He still smiles to himself and nudges his knee up against Sam's, happy that their story helped someone else. Sam sends him a questioning look, but Finn just smiles and puts his hand on Sam's knee. Sam blushes and tries hard to focus on the movie, and that just makes Finn smile harder. Yep, best beach trip ever.

******

Loading up the car the next day is depressing. Finn wishes he and Sam could just stay here all summer. No college applications, no jobs, no dealing with family. Just him and Sam with no one to bother them.

Unfortunately, wishing doesn't do him any good, and Sam has a shift at the pizza place tonight, so they have to head out soon. Finn pulls the trunk shut with a sigh.

He puts on a fake smile and looks at Sam, who's just finished helping Rachel with her bags. "Ready to go?"

Sam kinda frowns and reaches into his pockets. "I think I left my phone upstairs. Can you go check?"

"Sure," Finn says, jogging back into the house. Santana gives him a look when she passes him on the stairs, and he quickly tells her, "Sam forgot his phone."

She mumbles something in response, but Finn doesn't catch it. He looks under the now well-made bed, checks the nightstand, looks in the dresser drawer, but he doesn't see a phone.

"You've got five minutes!" Santana calls from downstairs. Finn wonders if he should unmake the bed and check under the covers, but then Sam walks in.

"Five minutes," Sam says, sliding the door shut behind him.

"Hey, I checked under the bed, but--"

Sam interrupts him by wrapping his hand around Finn's neck, pulling him down and kissing him like they've got more than five minutes.

Finn takes a second to breathe when he pulls back. "Not that I don't appreciate this, but shouldn't we be using our time to look for your phone?"

"My phone is in the car," Sam says, inching his other hand under Finn's shirt. "I was just tired of you looking like someone just told you your puppy ran away."

Finn takes a second to process that and then smiles. "Well in that case," he says, backing Sam up against the door. He kisses him lazily, wishing they had more time. Who knows when they'll get a chance to do this again?

"Just because we're going home doesn't mean we're gonna be over, you know," Sam says, reading Finn's mind. Finn would probably frown if Sam hadn't moved back in for another kiss.

"I know, it's just... it's not gonna be the same back home. We won't get to hang out as often." He doesn't say, 'we won't get to sleep in the same bed,' even though that's probably the worst part.

"Yeah," Sam says with a sigh. "But we'll hang out as much as we can. And my cousin offered to help me out with the phone bill, so I'll be able to get a decent cell phone plan. We can call each other as much as we want."

"Cool," Finn says. Maybe if he talks to Sam right before bed, he won't lie awake all night.

"Plus, I'm kinda lookin' forward to, y'know, actually going out next week. Kickass mutants with kickass abilities!" he says, punching the air next to Finn. "And I guess you'll be there too."

Finn rolls his eyes. "Shut up and come here," Finn says, pulling him in for another kiss. Sam is still smiling when their lips meet.

"Touching," Santana's voice cuts in, "but your five minutes are up."

Sam jumps back, but Finn doesn't let him get very far. "It's okay, dude. She already knows."

Sam stares at him with his mouth hanging open. It's a tempting look. He turns back to Santana and says, "And you say _I_ have a big mouth!"

"Listen, as much as I enjoy providing the accommodations for your sexual liberation, I gots to get home before my bratty little sister lays official claim to my room."

Sam blatantly ignores her by leaning in to kiss Finn one more time, but then he smiles cheekily and says, "Okay."

"Whoa, where'd everybody go?" Finn says when they get downstairs. The driveway is empty of every car but his and Santana's, with Brittany asleep in the passenger's seat.

"Unlike me," Santana says, "they all bought your shitty cover story about the phone. I told 'em to go on, that I'd help you look. You're welcome." She closes the door behind them as they walk outside, cursing when the deadbolt won't turn all the way.

"Need some help?" Sam offers, but she ignores him and keeps trying. Eventually, she successfully turns it, shooting Sam a superior look.

"Oh, the force is strong with this one," Sam says in one of his many voices. Finn tries not to laugh out loud.

"You are dating a huge dork," Santana tells Finn, looking unimpressed.

"I know," Finn says, taking Sam's hand and looking at him fondly. Sam looks surprised for a second before smiling and ducking his head. Santana scoffs, but Finn ignores her and smiles wide at Sam. "Come on, let's go home."

THE END


End file.
